

Glass _ 


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Book. 


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GtpigM?. 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
















Tke Doctrine and Practice 
of Yoga 

Including the Practices and Exercises of Concentration, both Objective and Sub¬ 
jective, and Active and Passive Mentation, an Elucidation of Maya, 

Guru Worship, and the Worship of the Terrible, also the 
Mystery of Will-Force 

BY 

SWAMI MUKERJI 

Yogi of the South India Order 


With an Exegetical Proem, by the Premel el Adaros, Fellow and Initiate of the 
Order and Authorized Representative in the United States of America of the 
South India Brotherhood; also Ecclesiarch of the First Church of 
Hindu Spiritual Science, and Founder and President of the 
Transcendent Science Society. This Edition Prepared for 
Publication in the United States of America under 
the Editorship of the Representative of the 
L. L. C., the Great South India 
Brotherhood, Premel el 
Adaros 


Privately Printed by 


PREMEL EL ADAROS 


President of 



MASONre-T emple 
Chicago, Tutefuis 


SOCIETY cf TRANSCENDENT SCIENCE, 
312 LOOP END BUILDING 
177 N. STATE ST. 
CHiCAGO, ILLINOIS 












COPYRIGHT, BY 
PREMEL EL ADAROS 


SPECIAL NOTICE 

The Illustrations, Cover Design and Contents of this Volume are Protected by 
Copyright, and must not be Reproduced or Copied without 
the Written Permission of the Publishers. Disregard 
of this Warning will subject the Offender to the 
Penalty Provided by Law. 


NOTICE 

This Work is Protected by Copyright, and Simultaneous Initial Publications in 
the United States of America and in India. All Rights Reserved. 
Copyright in India by the Latent Light Culture. 



M 22 ’23 





ANNOUNCEMENT 


In studying these Lessons please remember 3 points:— 

1. Not one useless or superfluous sentence is written. Every word 
is full of meaning. They are highly condensed. Think deeply over them. 

2. They are meant as a practical supplement to the ‘Spiritual 
Consciousness/ ‘Soul-Force’ and ‘Inner Forces.’ Studied side by side, 
these lessons will yield a great deal of benefit. You are expected to 
think hard and long. 

3. Let none expect speedy or miraculous results. All spiritual 
training calls for infinite patience and deep reverence unto the Guru. 
Constant rise and fall accompanies all progress. 





























NOTE 


I herewith commit to the perusal of the reader the private instruc¬ 
tions of the Great Yogi of India, and of the South India Brotherhood or 
Order, the Swami Mukerji, whose teachings on Yoga are without a 
second, since they reveal the esoteric within the heart or core of the 
shadow (the exoteric). 

The instructions are not for those who are of a curious mind, as 
they will no doubt turn out to be to them as a descending fire from the 
celestial spaces which will consume them like a straw, and if perchance 
they escape this, they will enter unto, and this quite unconsciously, an 
Ocean of Ice into which they will freeze. 

The libidinous activity of the Pre-Pranasacic Substantanility must 
from the very inchoation of things differientate Consciousness. Prob¬ 
ably, the Swami Mukerji, who is a Fellow of the Order of which I per¬ 
sonally represent in the United States of America, gives to the tried 
student the spiritual basis for direct radiation of the astral Light. Never¬ 
theless, it can be ready understood, that he perceives the ecstatic un- 
foldment that is attainable by silence. 

“Loquacity,’’ said Apollonious, “has many pitfalls, but silence none.” 
There is a certain wisdom that God reveals to the Sage, and this is the 
sound of the Impenetrable Silence. 

This masterly course of Practical instructions has been specially 
prepared for the benefit of the earnest and spiritually minded public at 
large. It is divided into four great sections; its language is remarkably 
direct and plain; and it is practical from cover to cover. The profound 
mysteries of Yoga practices are practically a sealed book to the English- 
knowing public. At last the veil has been lifted and those who burn and 
thirst for first hand practical instructions will find herein all that for 
which they have been crying for in vain all their lives. The Swami 
Mukerji has exhausted the entire field of practical Yoga and Occultism 
and those who take up this Course with the sole aim of mastering what 
is herein given, shall forevermore know what and how to do in regard 
to attaining the Supreme Heights of Yoga (UNION-WITH-THE-SU- 
PREME-SOUL). 


5 


He faithfully reproduces the images of the Ideal before your sub¬ 
jective self, he leads you by his peculiar wisdom and power rapidly into 
the Mansions of Peace. Thus by rapid and SURE and CERTAIN Self- 
Unfoldment, you come into the realisation of what he elucidates in re¬ 
gard to his novel expositions in Breathing, Soul-Unfoldment, Concentra¬ 
tion, Meditation, Bramhacharya, Will Culture, Self-Control, Personal 
Magnetism, Psychic Powers, Physical and Mental Culture, and literally 
a hundred other things have been masterfully discussed and backed by 
scores of valuable exercises hitherto never revealed outside the Pagodas 
(Temples) before. 

Fellow of the Hindu Brotherhood and Representative 
of the South India Order in the United States of 
America. INI. 666. 


6 


TO THE KIND READER 


The Author of this preface, Premel el Adaros, respectfully in¬ 
forms those who are curious in the studies of Art and Nature, espe¬ 
cially of Natural and Occult Philosophy, Chemistry, Astrology, etc., etc., 
that having been indefatigable in his researches into those sublime sci¬ 
ences, of which he has treated at large in his many scientific works, that 
he gives lessons by mail and private instructions and lectures upon any of 
the above mentioned sciences; in the course of which one will discover 
many curious and rare experiments. Those who become students will 
be initiated into the choicest operations of Natural Philosophy, Natural 
Magic, the Cabala, Chemistry, the Talismanic Art, Hermetic Philosophy, 
Astrology, Physiognomy, Yoga, Hindu Adeptship, Transcendent-Science, 
Oriental Magic, etc., etc. Likewise, they will acquire the knowledge of 
the Rites, Mysteries, Ceremonies, and Principles of the ancient Philoso¬ 
phers, Magi, Cabalists, Adepts, etc. The purpose of this School (each 
circle of which will consist of no greater number than twelve Students 
at any given time) being to investigate the hidden treasures of Nature; 
to bring the mind to a contemplation of the Eternal Wisdom to promote 
the discovery of whatever may conduce to the perfection of Man; the 
alleviating of the miseries and calamities of this life, both in respect of 
ourselves and other; the study of morality and religion here, in order to 
secure to ourselves the felicity hereafter; and finally the promulgation of 
whatever may conduce to the general happiness and welfare of mankind. 
Those who feel themselves thoroughly disposed to enter upon such a 
course of studies, as is above recited, with the same principles of philan¬ 
thropy with which the Author invites the lovers of philosophy and wisdom 
to incorporate themselves in so select, premanent, and desirable a society, 
may speak with the Author upon the subject, at any time between the 
hours of Twelve and Five o’clock, at the Transcendent-Science Society’s 
Office, Room 1022, Masonic Temple, Chicago, Illinois. Letters (post¬ 
paid) upon any subject treated of in this Book will be duly answered, 
with the necessary information. 

SOUIN -f i RAN. vtNOcNT SCIENCE, 

Vj 1,0'jp END EUILDING 
If ~ 177 X STATE ST. 
rwirVof) ILLINOIS 


7 




\ 


FOREWORD. 


CONCENTRATION AND THOUGHT-CONTROL. 


Student! Your life is your own. You have only yourself to thank 
for what you are, have been and will be. Take your present into your 
own hand. Consciously shape out of it your future. Direct your forces 
along lines of study and endeavour that have the strongest attraction 
for you. Such attraction is the indication of need. It is the hand point¬ 
ing out your Life-purpose. What your heart desires earnestly and 
clamours for incessantly is attracted to you out of the invisible supply, 
i. e., the means, the environments, the right sort of persons, books and 
thought-forces are drawn to you and then you are expected to work out 
your desire. This is in perfect accord with the great Law of Attraction. 
Some call it God: since it answers all sincere prayers. Prayer, remem¬ 
ber, is the sincere desire of the heart. I take it that you hunger for Truth 
and Spiritual Growth—else you and I would not be here. The instruc¬ 
tions given you hereunder are meant to give you a strong body and a 
strong will. They will also tend to your Soul-Unfoldment. Talk not 
of them. Keep your mouth closed. Be serious, earnest and thoughtful. 
Then work at them confidently and with perseverance. Do not be 
daunted by apparent failures. Failure is the stepping-stone to Success. 
He fails who gives up a thing in final despair. Go on, I say. You will 
improve from the very first day, and in a short time you will be another 
man. All the leaders of humanity, past or present, have studied and 
investigated with tireless zeal along the special lines and, in Spiritual 
culture, you must do the same. But you must have health, a strong will 
and a steady brain, and I will enable you to have these positively. Keep 
these instructions strictly privately. Master them by constant meditation 
upon same. 


9 



LESSON I. 

CONCENTRATION. 

Concentration signifies the state of being at a centre ( con and cen¬ 
trum). Applied to thought, it is the act of bringing the mind to a single 
point. Each human being must practise concentration subjectively and 
objectively. In other words, each human being aims with more or less 
precision at concentration on a point within and a point without his own 
world. Concentration “without” is illustrated when you devote all your 
attention upon Nature, such as learning a trade, a profession, a science, 
an art or some form of business. This is Evolution, outgoing or positive 
mental energy. I shall call this Objective Concentration. Concentration 
“within” implies the withdrawing of attention from the external world 
and the placing of mind on “God,” Spirit,” “Heaven,” “Religion,” 
“Peace,” “Nirvana,” “Eternity,” etc. This is Involution, i.e., incoming 
or negative energy. 

When Objective Concentration alone is practised, you develop into 
a hard-headed, practical man of the world or a successful man of business. 
You are keen and shrewd. The world is a very matter-of-fact thing to 
you. You cannot think of anything else beyond money-making and 
pleasures and worldly affairs. You are a “worldling of the world,” very 
clever, rich, and a master along your own lines. But spiritually you are 
an imbecile, worse than a baby. This is the Objective Mind —the “deep¬ 
est immersed in matter, literally made of the dust.” “It is the brain of 
worldly wisdom, common sense, prudence, methodical arrangement, order, 
discipline, classification, the skill and knowledge of the expert in any 
branch or department of art or science.” This side of the mind is well 
developed in Scientists, Mathematicians and Businessmen, etc. Where 
it is not guided by the Subjective Mind, it can only see diversity and 
difference and is the slave of Maya—the slayer of the Real. 

Subjective Concentration is seeking the Kingdom of Heaven within 
you. “God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship in Spirit 
and Truth.” Laplace, the great astronomer, asserted that he had swept 
the heavens with his telescope and found neither God nor Heaven. Yes, 
poor Laplace! He looked for God.objectively instead of subjectively. 

The Kingdom of God comes not with 'observation’ but it is 'within’ 
you. The be-all and the end-all of religion is the practice of Subjective 
Concentration. The performance of objective work by the human organ¬ 
ism necessitates expenditure of energy and at last death, because all 
Objective Concentration means 'going from’ the Absolute centre—God— 
and hence it expends Spiritual Energy. Subjective Concentration means 


10 


‘coming to’ the centre and hence it husbands and recuperates this energy. 
Now nature is motion to and from, and Spirit—the centre of Life. This 
two-fold motion constitutes what is known as polarity—Evolution and 
Involution—negative and positive. At the negative pole life becomes 
involved, i. e. y ‘wrapped up’ in form. At the positive pole life ‘evolves’ 
or becomes expressed in nature. In Subjective Concentration you return 
for fresh supplies to the inexhaustible storehouse of force—the Absolute 
Will. Jesus healed the sick, exhibited control over external nature by 
raising the dead, because his chaste soul could receive nothing negatively 
from God and could give it out positively to the objective world. All 
power comes from God. / I* would impress upon you the all-important 
necessity of placing yourself in a magnetically passive attitude towards 
the Universal Will and then of taking up a calm, positive attitude towards 
the phenomenal world—which is a projection of the lower nature and 
hence must be handled masterfully, fearlessly and confidently. Be 
positive to the external world. Be negative and receptive to the Lord’s 
Will-force. Remember this. This brings me to the supremest and most 
solid truth contained in the Science of prayer. The praying mind, by its 
mere attitude of faith and earnest expectation, opens itself out to the 
tremendous inflow of Divine Energy. It draws close to the centre of 
all-power, wisdom and love, and drinks deep of the living waters of life 
so that even the very face or flesh begins to shine under the influence of 
this self-polarization—if I may be permitted to use this word—through 
prayer. Here is the causa nuxus between a prayer and its sure reply. 
Do you remember what Lord Rosebery said of the great Puritan Mystic 
Oliver Cromwell? If not, please let me quote: “The secret of his 
extraordinary success—he was a practical mystic—the most formidable 
and terrible of all combinations. The man who combines inspiration, 
apparently derived—in my judgment, really derived—from close com¬ 
munion with the Supernatural and the Celestial, a man who has that 
inspiration and adds to it the energy of a mighty man of action, such a 
man as that lives in communion on a Sinai of his own; and when he 
pleases to come down to this w r orld below, seems armed with no less than 
the terrors and decrees of the Almighty Himself.” Now both forms of 
concentration must be practised so as to hold the two poles in the even 
balance of harmonious growth. 

You will perform the daily work to which you are naturally adapted 
in the common weal (Objective Concentration) and after the daily task 
is finished, retire to the bosom of the Universal Spirit by the regular 
practice of Subjective Concentration. 

Now will you realise the ideal of peace in the very midst of the toil 
and sweat of the day. 


O' 


11 


MIND 


abstraction or the effort to focus the mind 
on something. 

one-pointedness; steadfastness or fixity of 
attention. 

contemplation or prolonged attention, 
mental illumination or perfection of meditation. 


to borrow the above diagram from Arthur Lovell. 

The foregoing diagram, if closely and thoughtfully studied, will 
show the stages the mind has to £ grow into’ in objective and subjective 
concentration. 

In order to acquire knowledge of the laws of external nature the 
mirror you require is accurate observation and you must focus your 
attention and push objective concentration to its final stage of perfect 
knowledge or illumination in order to master any special branch of 
science. 

In Objective Concentration, Pratyahara and Dharana are the pre¬ 
paratory stages. Take a scientist, for instance. He knows that when 
the mind is engaged with several things, mind force is scattered. He 
cannot be a politician, a muscian, etc., and at the same time an expert 
scientist. He gradually abstracts his attention from all other subjects 
and pauses it on one subject or one set of subjects. 

Pratyahara is the continued effort of the mind to so abstract itself. 

Dharana is reached when this effort is finally successful and the 
mind becomes steadfast and one-pointed. Dhyana is an extension of 
this steadfastness. When Dhyana is reached, the student is beyond the 
range of books. His mind is occupied with original researches and ex¬ 
periments and his knowledge becomes more and more definite. Going 
on and on always on the one line complete knowledge of that subject is 
attained. This is the objective view of Samadhi. All these stages when 
completed make one Santayana. The subjective view of Samadhi no 
books or writings can teach you. As you go deeper and deeper into 
Yoga, you will understand these things in the light of your Soul-Vision. 
It will come to you if you follow my subsequent instructions. Despair not. 


Pratyahara — 

Dharana \ 
Dhyana \ 


I have taken the libert} 


12 




WHAT IS MAYA? 


Now, first of all, what is Maya (ignorance of the real)? Take the 
dial-plate of a watch. You know quite well that the hand^of the watch 
are governed by the mechanism behind. Both are necessary. Ignorance 
exists in thinking that the hands of the watch move by themselves. This 
visible universe is the dial-plate of the Invisible. Maya (ignorance) 
blinds you to this fact, i.e., mere objective knowledge blinds you to the 
subjective side of life and you see nothing beyond a material universe. 
But you, who realize both, objective as well as subjective, need not be 
afraid of such a danger. For a danger it is to develop the objective mind 
to the neglect of the subjective. In order to round yourself out, practise 
both. But first, last and always, let the subjective guide, govern and 
illumine the objective. Also remember! this: If your mind is at all 
attached to the objective world, try your very best to disattach it and fix 
it on the subjective side of life, else will you bring untold suffering on 
yourself. The half-wordly and half-spiritual man who wants to lead a 
spiritual sensual life eventually brings about a conflict between the laws 
and forces of the two planes of being. He is overwhelmed with pain and 
at last with cries of suffering, disease and loss, he is made to open his 
eyes. Understand the world for what it is but do not lower your soul to 
the point of being attached to its small thoughts, things and ways. 

HOW TO CONCENTRATE OBJECTIVELY. 

(i a ) In all undertakings whether of small or great importance shut 
off all thoughts and ideas except such as have any immediate and direct 
bearing upon the thing in hand. Pay attention. Bend all the energies 
of your mind and will upon it till it is completed to your satisfaction. 
Divert your attention from one thing to another only when you sanction 
by a resolve and understand why you do so. Your daily work which you 
must choose according to the special bent of your mind, will present you 
opportunities. 

(b) Control impulse. Suppose an idea enters your mind. Com¬ 
pose yourself quietly before carrying out its purport. Consider it. Turn 
it over in your mind. Contemplate it. Weave your mental energies 
around it, as it were, till at last the idea with your final decision stands 
out clear-cut and well-defined. Then proceed to act it out physically 
with your mental concentration cutting a way for you straight on to the 
execution of your designing. This is forethought. 

( c ) In perfect concentration time vanishes. In working out a 
design on which you have set your heart dispense altogether with the 


13 


w 


element of time and work at it concentratedly for days, months and 
years with confident expectation of success. 

( d ) Take a picture, representing a landscape, the interior of a 
building, an assembly of persons, a square, a triangle or a more compli¬ 
cated geometrical figure. Look at it well. Then lay it aside. Close 
your eyes. Reproduce the picture mentally in detail. Then repose your 
mind on the same image to the exclusion of all other thoughts. This is 
a more fixed and meditative method and will sharpen the mind wonder¬ 
fully. It will also develop the power of conscious Mental Imagery. The 
key to Objective Concentration is Consciows Attention , remember. 

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE MENTATION. 

These terms imply two different distinct functions of the human 
mind. The active function performs the volitional, voluntary thinking. 
It is the conscious focussing of the mind on some mental problem. Banish¬ 
ing from the mind all thoughts and ideas not in harmony with. your 
special subject of study implies Active Mentation. This function is used 
by the active, wide-awake man in his busy and energetic moments. It 
is the key to the development of Will-Power and a vigorous intellect. 
You are conscious of effort when youlire exercising this function. The 
mind becomes exhausted after a great deal of such effort and cries out for 
rest, because conscious attention implies close concentration of thought 
and can be exercised only by the conscious use of Will-Power. You 
ought to be able to concentrate upon one subject of thought, study and 
observation with undivided attention and then take your mind off that 
subject and put it on something else, at your will. Train your mind to 
‘give’ perfect attention to any subject you like and also to ‘shut off’ or 
inhibit all attention on that subject. The mind is a restless thing darting 
from one thing to another, and, like a spoilt child, tiring of continued 
attention. But you must, by Will-Exercise, get control over this ten¬ 
dency. ‘Exercise develops power. Practice makes perfect.’ This you 
must bear in mind and, by patience and perseverance, train your mind 
to ‘pay attention’ where it ought to do so and not to pay attention where 
it ought not to. At first your mind will rebel like an unbroken horse 
at the imposition of such restraint. But really all greatness results from 
mind-control. Remember active mentation is conscious, deliberate con¬ 
centration. Passive mentation represents automatic , involuntary think¬ 
ing. This includes the subconscious or ‘habit’ mind. When a certain 
thought-groove has been formed in your mind, energy flows into it in¬ 
voluntarily, i. e. } by itself and without any conscious effort on your part. 
This is passive mentation. It is automatic mental activity. Take an 
example. Some school-boys find Mathematics, Science and Geography 


14 


easy to master from the very start. They feel quite in sympathy with the 
teacher of Mathematics. But History and Language are their abomina¬ 
tion. There are others who simply cannot ‘take an interest’ in any 
Mathematics but who shine brilliantly in Language, Recitation, Compo¬ 
sition, History. As a matter of fact neither of these students is superior 
to the other, but each is great in his own line. In one set, you have an 
example of automatic mentation in Mathematics, Science and Geogra¬ 
phy; in the other in Literature and Art. But suppose the first set tried 
to master Literature and Art and the second grappled with Mathematics 
and Science, each would then be practising actual concentration. In 
each set the active function would be exercised and will-power would de¬ 
velop on both sides. Do you see? Occultists say that all power results 
from the continual exercise of active mentation and all weak-mindedness 
is the direct outcome of this wool-gathering, castle-building, inattentive 
habit which is an extension of passive mentation into useless channels of 
thought-force. Conscious attention concentrates and even specializes 
mental energy as the sun-glass concentrates and intensifies the heat of 
the rays of the sun. Focus your full attention upon the thing to be done, 
take a keen Interest in its accomplishment to the exclusion of all else, 
and you will obtain wonderful results. The man of developed, concen- 
trative power holds in his hand the key to success, with the results that 
all his actions, voluntary or involuntary, are pointed to the accomplish¬ 
ment of his object. Remember therefore in conclusion: 

(1) Concentration is perfect attention consciously directed to a 

given point of achievement either objectively or subjec¬ 
tively. 

(2) Concentration is consecration. 

“What ever you do, do it with all your might. Do one thing 
at a time and do it well.” By concentration is meant the directing of 
all your energies along a special line of achievement. For instance, if 
you would be a perfect Yogi, you must concentrate, concentrate, morning, 
noon and night, at all times, along that line of endeavour. You must 
study all the vast literature on Yoga, Psychology, Metaphysics, Mental- 
ism, etc., and form your own synthesis on same. You must think hard 
and work hard for Yoga. “Genius is the power to bear infinite pain.” 
Nothing ought to be too great a sacrifice, including your own life, for 
the right understanding and achievement of Yoga. 

All half-heartedness, all insincerity, weakens your nature and 
weakness has no place either in heaven or in hell. For the half-hearted 
man is a traitor unto the Divine within him and must pay dearly for 
his treachery. 


15 


SUBJECTIVE CONCENTRATION—HOW PRACTISED. 

This is a vast subject. If you practise earnestly my instructions on 
Thought-Control, Will-Culture, and take the Meditation Exercise I am 
going to give you, you will realize greater strength than average human¬ 
ity. But you must study and think hard for yourself before any con¬ 
siderable benefit can be derived from even these. Remember please, you 
alone can teach yourself through intuition. Intuition is tuition from 
within. Follow strictly the general rules I give you and you cannot but 
unfold your Inner Soul Vision which includes intuition in its fullest sense. 

{a) What is Thought-Force? 

“Thoughts are things.” Thought is a dynamic energy. Just as 
the food that you eat feeds your body, exactly similarly your thoughts 
and feelings nourish your soul. Matter is nothing but a concentration 
of Thought-Force or Mind-Substance. The entire universe is seen 
objectively. This is on the cosmic scale. On the individual scale—“As 
a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” This is a literal truth. Your 
body is nothing but a Thought-Form. Control your modes of thinking 
and shape them to lofty ideals. So will you infallibly, positively and 
immediately control your destiny. Control your thoughts and you can 
control the thoughts of all other men. The tone of your thoughts must 
always be lofty. You must change your Thought-Habits and shift your 
plane of consciousness from the lower to the higher life. I am going to 
give you hints on same. Pay attention please. 

( b) Thought-Forms. 

Every one of us, as he thinks, feels and wills, sends forth Thought- 
Forms and Thought-Waves of greater or lesser intensity. This force 
once set into motion persists, for a greater or lesser period of time, in 
Ether. Thought-Force is the concentration of a high form of vibratory 
energy in the Akasa (universal ether) and the ether, as you know, perme¬ 
ates all space, interpenetrates and pervades all forms of matter, from 
atom to the sun and the stars. Just as the light-waves of a star exist and 
move on centuries after the star has ceased to be, just as the heat-vibra¬ 
tions remain in a room even after the producing cause has been removed, 
similarly mentative energy and its corresponding Thought-Forms persist 
in the ether even after the originating impulse has been withdrawn. 

( c ) Thought-Atmosphere. 

In this way places, houses, cities and temples have peculiar Thought- 
Atmospheres of their own, imparted by those living there, exerting an 
influence upon every one living or going there. These are positive, ani- 


16 


mating, purifying and exalting Thought-Atmospheres, and there are 
negative, weakening and unholy, morbid Thought-Atmospheres. 

The higher and loftier your tone of general Thought-Activity, the 
finer and more powerful the vibrational nature of the energy emanating 
from you. The quality of the thought determines the rate of vibration. 
For instance, photographs have been taken through highly-sensitized 
plates, indicating the nature of the energy generated. Tongues of flame, 
brilliant and flashing with golden-yellow, were photographed from prayer 
and devotion. Rotary forms spreading out in ever widening circles of 
intense power appeared from lofty enthusiasm in a noble cause. Dark, 
murky, cloudy forms resulted from fear, morbidness and worry, and so on. 

(i d ) The Human Aura. 

Similarly each human organism has an ‘Aura’ of Thought-Force 
around it, having its own peculiar rate of vibration, its peculiar forms 
of colour, etc. This ‘Aura’ is an extension of our physical, mental and 
spiritual energies. 

( e ) The Adductive Power of Thought. 

Now as you think, the quality of your thoughts and feelings sets up 
a magnetic centre within your Aura, vortices are created, attracting to 
yourself similar forms of thought and mentative energy and combining 
with other similar forms of energy, reacting upon you and your circum¬ 
stances and also wielding an influence upon all such as may come w£tb> 
its area, radius or field of Force. Thus you see thoughts of the T can 
and I wilP, T do and I dare’ type draw similar ones to you, ever increasing 
your own stock and at the same time stimulating and energising all 
others vibrating in the same key throughout the world. Hence you see 
we owe it to ourselves as well as to humanity in general to generate only 
positive, loving and lofty thoughts. Just brace up and send forth fear¬ 
less, T can and I will’ thoughts into the world’s great reservoir of thought 
forces, and you will be surprised at your power to attract influence, and 
energise others. 

(/) Thought-Control. 

There are four special classes of thoughts that are poisoning the 
lives of almost all humanity. They are:—(1) Fear-thoughts, (2) Hate- 
thoughts, (3) Sensual-thoughts, (4) Selfish-thoughts. All worry, doubt, 
timidty, lack of self-respect, jealousy, spite, malice, envy, slander, dirty, 
vicious, will-weakening, health-destroying, poverty-breeding, soul-killing 
influences radiate from one or all of these four. You must cut at their 


17 


roots and utterly destroy them. In your efforts follow assiduously the 
following four rules. They alone can give you absolute thought-control. 
They are infallible: 

(1) You can break up old thought-habits and build up new ones 
by sheer force of Will. 

(2) You can easily become great by associating with some strong- 
willed, holy, wisdom-steeped soul. This is absolutely necessary and 
means the finding of your Guru. 

(3) By auto-suggestion, i. e., by impressing upon your passive 
mind the particular change you would have it work out. 

(4) By thought-absorption, i. e., by constant meditation on that 
one line of thinking. 

Now let me give you a few valuable hints on the above four in detail: 

(1) & (3). Character Building. 

You can accomplish this result by tensing the will and by strength¬ 
ening the active function of your mind and thus enabling it to “step in” 
and simply ‘command’ the passive function to drop the old thought-habit 
and take up the new one. This is a magnificent feat and in it only the 
strongest succeed. You can obtain good results by combining this with 
auto-suggestion. Silently concentrate upon your passive mind and im¬ 
press upon it your order. Say to it earnestly, confidently, and master¬ 
fully: ‘You, my mind, I want you to be fearless, pure, loving and un¬ 
selfish ! ’ Picture to yourself in imagination as if you were already these, 
and again command and impress your will upon your mind. Do so 
silently and constantly and never neglect a chance of expressing these 
qualities in action because, at first your mind will rebel, but if ‘you’ 
keep up your efforts determinate^ and firmly and avail yourself of all 
opportunities to ‘act out’ your will, your mind will end up by accepting 
your suggestion and manifesting same naturally as a habit. Some of you 
will actually go out of your way to ‘act out’ a thought when you realise 
that the easiest and surest way to check and utterly ‘destroy’ a thought- 
habit is to refuse deliberately to let it manifest in action and to ‘create’ 
a new one all you have got to do is to equally deliberately ‘express’ it in 
action and thus clinch it into permanent strength. Also you must aim 
at ‘thoroughness’ and guard against all compromise with your lower 
nature. Chastity must be perfect chastity and nothing short of that, 
and so on in all development. 

(4) Thought-Absorption. 

i. Go away by yourself to some place where you will not be dis¬ 
turbed. Of course, not always and very rarely can you obtain this condi- 


18 


tion. Never mind. Do your best where you are and the great law will 
at least find for you all necessary conditions. Shut out all distracting con¬ 
ditions and impressions from the outer world. After a little effort you 
will be able to do so anywhere, at any time, and under any condition. All 
mental disturbance is within you. 

ii. Now relax, go passive, and draw off all tension from your 
nerves. Just you relax your mind and your body will follow suit. A 
few deep slow breaths will help the beginner. 

iii. Concentrate upon your mind inward steadily, calmly and with 
undivided attention. 

iv. Fix your thought firmly upon your passive mind and mentally 
say, ‘You, my mind, are quite pure.’ Think of this word (with all the 
ideas associated therewith) as sinking deeply into your mind and making 
a deep impress upon it as a die upon a wax. Let the outward form of 
the words ‘pure/ ‘fearless,’ etc., sink into your mind. 

v. Form a mental picture of yourself as if you already possessed 
all ‘purity’ and ‘courage’ and act them out in imagination. Make of it 
a pleasant ‘day dream.’ 

vi. Intensify your relaxed condition of mind. Grow as ‘limp’ as a 
rag. Then mentally open yourself out to the inrush of all the Thought- 
Forces existing in the ether and connected with positive thoughts. The 
effort of this imagination to see this tremendous force pouring into your 
brain and body will actually put you en rapport with same. 

vii. Now change from negative to a positive condition and say 
vigourously I am ‘pure’ and ‘strong’. Say it distinctly several times. 
Actually speak them out. 

viii. Then go out and live your thoughts out. This last is the most 
important condition. 

ix. Practise this daily at the same hour and if possible at the same 
place, morning and evening. In fact hold the thought in your mind as 
often as possible till it becomes second Nature. 

x. Use your power for good or you shall weep eternally. To misuse 
occult powers for mean, selfish, or low ends and to prostitute it into en¬ 
slaving others weaker than yourselves mentally and physically is* the 
greatest ‘sin’ man can commit against man. 

(2) Guru Worship. 

You grow by absorption and assimilation. In order to quicken your 
progress you need abstract as well as concrete ideals. The secret of all 
rapid and startling spiritual development is man-worship. By man- 
worship I mean devotion to, reverence, and intense and all-absorbing 
passion for the perfect individual man of realization—a Mahapurusha. 


19 


Christ, Buddha and Vivekananda were all such-type men. You must 
constantly and thoughtfully meditate upon the lives and writings of 
saints and heroes. The formative influence and valuable powers of study 
and meditation upon lofty ideas and ideals are incalculably Man grows 
by the deepening of consciousness and the acquirement of wisdom. All 
study, subjective and objective, is a Tapashya or Austerity directed to 
the acquirement of wisdom. It is the worship of Saraswati—the Goddess 
of Wisdom. This worship is definable as perfect emotional solitude, 
close study, absolute chastity and celibacy, and at last the merging of 
the personal into the impersonal. This austere life is the secret of all 
greatness. You know how Archimedes when threatened with death by 
the vandalistic invaders of his country raised his head and said ‘Please 
do not disturb my circles’ and nothing more. This man was practising 
Yoga unconsciously. You must be able to lose all consciousness of this 
relative personality, the sure victim of death and impermanence. You 
must give up the personal ego that in the words of Walt Whitman ‘is 
contained within your hat and boots’ and then alone will you realise an 
infinite individuality. Truly in losing himself man finds Himself. ‘Ye 
must be born anew’. Herein, apart from its formative and moulding 
influence lies the greatest value of study. Study and direct aural influ¬ 
ence of a perfected soul are the two objective means of instilling powerful 
suggestions into the subjective self or the inner soul. All knowledge is 
within the deeps of the eternal subjective. But the gate is locked. Your 
Guru gives you the master-key with which to unlock the door and enter 
the gate of wisdom and power. Once you are there all pain and death shall 
be conquered. You can then help yourself. Man can only worship such 
a God as is greater than himself in degree and not in kind. Such a God 
he can “grow into.” It is the impersonal God of the Hindu Philosophy 
that gives you the abstract ideas and the living Guru (God) in human 
form that gives you the concrete ideal. The one is necessary for the 
soaring intellect; the other for the rousing and enkindling of tremendous 
and indomitable motive-power. Seek both and when you find them wor¬ 
ship and serve them with all your heart and soul. ‘My worship for my 
master is the worship of a dog. I do not seek to understand his nature. 
It .ever startles with its newness and profound depth’. So spoke Vive¬ 
kananda of Ram Krishna. Need I tell you of the tremendous and world- 
conquering power that awoke in Vivekananda through mere Guru wor¬ 
ship? In India the Guru asks for nothing short of absolute worship, 
obedience, and submission to his will although none values and appre¬ 
ciates individual freedom more than the master. So long as you are at 
the feet of your master be as submissive as a lamb. So will you open 
yourself to his great batteries of inner power. Serve him. Please him. 


20 


Obey him. Be his slave. No matter what contradictions you may see. 
A great and profound nature is full of contrary ways and his character 
is a paradox impossible for you to read through reason and observation. 
You can only understand him by having perfect faith in him, loving 
and serving him like a faithful dog. So will you tap on to his in¬ 
ner forces. And when he sends you away into the broad world to 
live out the great ideal he has set before you, you shall be astonished at 
your courage and power. You shall take fearless possession of this world 
and every minute you shall realise how only he can command who has 
learnt to obey. By commanding I do not mean dominating any one and 
forcing your views on others. This is the sign of fools. But you will 
find your influence radiating and circling out naturally and irresistibly, 
winning souls to the higher life, and you yourself shall thus stand as a 
tower of strength, a redeemer of the race, an inspiration and a living 
benediction unto humanity. Peace be with you! May you realise 
strength of soul! 


LESSON II. 

PERSONAL MAGNETISM, WILL-CULTURE, 
SELF-CONTROL. 


Personal Magnetism is the individual expression of a subtle irresist¬ 
ible and dynamic Force in man, which enables him to exert an unusual 
influence upon others. You all have come into contact with men of this 
type. They are endowed with marvelous, almost miraculous powers of 
influencing, persuading, attracting, fascinating, ruling and bending to 
their own Will-Force men of widely varying mental peculiarities and 
temperaments. Men actually go out of their way to please them. They 
attract others without any visible effort and others feel drawn to them 
in spite of themselves. Various are the examples of such power as af¬ 
forded by history. 

Now what is this power due to? How to develop it within yourself? 
Is it possible for everyone to acquire it? Has it or can it be put to any 
higher and nobler use than merely to enslave others’ minds in order to 
make them subservient to your selfish purposes on the relative plane 
of existence? If so, what is that higher use? I know of a Christian 
gentleman, Mr. K. by name, who had been smitten with the young 
governess of a Magistrate in Benares. This grown-up man sought out 
a young College student who was a born leader of men and who w r as 
adored, admired and universally respected by all students, teachers and 
professors. “I wish you would teach me Mesmerism so that I may 
fascinate that girl”—this was the application of Mr. K. Well, the upshot 
of it all was that Mr. K. got a severe and stern rebuke from the young 
mesmerist, who in all truth was a born Yogi and cared not for the petty 
ways and small thoughts and attainments of men of this world. I find 
that nearly all modern Western writers on and teachers of this subject 
are much, in fact solely, taken up with the idea of sensationalism through 
Occultism, so much so that when a really thoughtful man investigates 
their writings he feels utterly disgusted, repelled and horrified at the 
very name of Occultism. “It is sin to manifest power ” said Vivekananda. 
The man who studies Yoga and Occultism simply with a view to develop, 
display and demonstrate Psychic and Super-normal Powers and Siddhies 
always ends in Lust and is caught up in a psychic machinery of law and 
destructive thought forces that effectually grind him to pieces. His 
spiritual progress is thrown back over ages and he is made to retrace his 
steps slowly and painfully. I cannot too strongly condemn the modern 



tendency to “impress” others, to “strike terror” into others, to “psychol¬ 
ogize” others 4 towards the accomplishment of our personal motives. If 
you are one such, do, for heaven’s sake, open, your eyes to your gross 
ignorance and low propensities or be not surprised if one day you find 
yourself face to face with some powerful scoundrel who would not scruple 
to crush you in all possible ways. “Harm watch, harm catch.” I am 
going to give you in practical form what constitute the real cause at the 
back of a “Magnetic” personality—that which when developed makes a 
god-like man of any human weakling. 

This power is by no means the especial and peculiar possession of 
some divinely gifted individuals. Everyone can cultivate it. It is in you 
and needs vigorous stirring up as a condition of its awakening. There 
are some men who are born great; others are made so by certain unfore¬ 
seen circumstances; a third class becomes great through conscious and 
intelligent effort. 

Now, what are the causes behind Personal Influence? 

(1) Some say that the right control of the Sex-Force or Celibacy 
is the cause. 

(2) Others say that vegetarianism leads to it. 

(3) Still others assert that it is physical energy and nerve force. 

(4) A fourth class has it that there emanates a current of magne¬ 
tism from the human body and influences everyone coming within its 
“Magnetic field”. 

Taking the last view point first, I should say, with certain other 
leading mental Scientists, that the human dynamic force is different from 
“magnetism” as the latter bears direct reference to the loadstone. 

Again, my own personal observations as well as those of others prove 
conclusively that although “magnetic” personalities have remarkably 
well-disciplined and highly trained physical energies, it is rarely or never 
a huge gigantic physique with large, unsightly muscles that exerts this 
force. No, it is decidely something other than mere physical energy and 
brute strength. A light, active, vigorous physique is desirable and any 
one can have it. Again, the principle value of a non-flesh diet lies in 
the fact that fruits, nuts, corn and vegetables are possessed of rythmic 
qualities and go to build up a fine, sensitive physique capable of greater 
powers of endurance and sustained mental effort than the ‘carcass’ of any 
animal ever can. Matter does affect mind in the lower stages of organic 
evolution but the process is largely reversed as soon as CONSCIOUS 
evolution commences. Therefore vegetarianism, although highly com¬ 
mendable, from a strictly scientific point of view for the development 
of an active and energetic, refined organism, is by no means a rigid and 
indispensable necessity in this respect. In fact, some most “magnetic” 


23 


individuals make ‘graveyards of their stomachs’ as a Mental Scientist 
puts it. 

Lastly, Bramhacharya or Celibacy, as practised by Sannyasis in 
India, has a strictly spiritual significance although it certainly has much 
as everything to do with Personal Magnetism. To the average man I 
would say: “Strive for CONTINENCE, chastity and control in this 
direction.” Do not emasculate, as that would be a waste of force. The 
stronger this force, the better. All Sannyasis learn consciously or un¬ 
consciously to transmute this energy into mental and spiritual force and 
generally their minds dwell on a plane of mental and spiritual effort where 
there cannot be even a breath of sensuality or grossness. They have gone 
beyond such things utterly; the same statement applies to all advanced 
thinkers, philosophers and workers, whether married or unmarried. To 
me the very name of philosophy carries with it an atmosphere of Chastity, 
Solemnity, and Divinity. 

But although there is some measure of truth in all the above four 
statements, they all miss the real thing. The question resolves itself 
into this: “ What makes one man superior to another?” The study of 
nature shows us that the higher form of intelligence controls the lower. 
All leaders of mankind, such as Napoleon, Alexander, etc., were clearly 
ahead of the times. But they strove for low things and their SUCCESS 
from our point of view is doubtful. Let us take higher ground. Buddha, 
Christ, Zoroaster, etc., etc., of ancient times and Vivekananda and a few 
others in modern times exhibited tremendous powers of influencing men. 
You study their lives and writings and try to find out just those things 
that constituted the basic cause of their heroic fibre. 

If I were asked to sum up the secrets of their Power I would say: 

1. “Their Intelligence and Thought-Power. 2. Awakened Will-Power 
and Self-Control”. 

1. It was by their intelligence that they could take fearless posses¬ 
sion of the world, handle men and women easily, read human nature at a 
glance and “be all things to all men,” i. e., put their fingers direct on the 
spiritual, mental, and physical necessities of widely verying tempera¬ 
ments and help each right where he stood in the ladder of evolution. 

2. It was by their developed thought-force that they drew the 
whole world to themselves. The positive thinker generates a force that 
draws all such as are negative to him. Nearly the whole world was 
negative to these Masters and hence felt attracted to them. These were 
the human touchstones. 

3. It was by their strong, manly, marvellous Will-Power that they 
drove their suggestions into other minds and gained an immediate 
ascendency over whatever environments they were placed in. The whole 


24 


man is summed up in his Will. Every other power in man is subservient 
to the Will. And say wh^t you will, it is this power more than any other 
that we respect in others. It is the central staff in our character. Intelli¬ 
gence is the directive energy. Will-Power is the propulsive energy. And 
the latter when wielded under the guidance of the former makes of man 
a veritable God. 

4. It was by their unusual power of Self-control that they could 
stand square upon their feet and could remain unshaken by the waves 
of conflicting opinions and the hostile attacks that continually dashed up 
against them. Master yourself, i. e., your personal, relative and lower 
self, and beyond the shadow of a doubt, the mastery of others is already 
yours. But the world will teach you bitter lessons and rend you to pieces 
if you try consciously to control it while you are still a slave to your 
lower self. Be great. Strive for Perfection. So will you be recognised 
by others. And according to the transcendent energy of the highest law 
of our Being it is the consciousness of heights scaled, accomplishments 
achieved and consequent dawning of a Loftier Ideal upon our intellectual 
horizon that fills us with Strength and Peace rather than the recognition 
of our worth by others. It is a serious mistake to care for fame, praise 
and admiration. You get them only when you do not care for them in 
the least, when your soul has outgrown all such clinging to the relative 
in the light of eternal thought, when you have risen to the Absolute and 
learnt to read the meaning of the “LARGER WORLD” of life. Do not 
pass by this lightly. In it is the key to Peace, Power and Poise. All 
that is Real and Permanent, is on the plane of the Absolute. 

Now we are drawing to the practical side of our Lesson. The four 
principal points, you will please remember, are: (1) Intelligence. (2) 
Thought-Force. (3) Will-Power. (4) Self-Control. You might feel 
surprised at my retailing this “ancient history’’ instead of teaching you 
how to approach a man, make him your slave and command him to fall 
down at your feet and do your bidding. Perhaps you expected me to 
tell you how to sail through the air, pass through solid walls, materialize 
and dematerialize at will and like Appolonius of Tyana vanish in the 
flash of an eye from the court of Ionysius and appear elsewhere at a 
distance of 19,000 miles at the same moment. No, no. I will take it 
for granted that you are made of different stuff and an earnest seeker 
after the truth. If you strive to build yourself on the basis of the simple 
principles as laid down in this series of lessons you will in time grow into 
the Higher Self and at last become one with it. Moreover, your daily 
life will be the Occasion for the practical application of these principles, 
thus enabling you to pursue your way through life calmly, earnestly, 
independently and with the quiet dignity of a man “who knows what he 


25 


is about”. I cannot and would not speak of “get-rich-quick” methods 
of self-development because they are the veriest rot imaginable. 

Now then: (1) Intelligence and (2) Thought-Force are the natural 
results of an organised brain. 

Concentration is the key to such development. Concentration 
has been fully explained in Lesson No. 1. By the constant exercise of 
concentration, objectively and subjectively, in your daily life you will 
in a short time become conscious of growing Strength. The exercises 
I give you in this lesson on Self-Control, Will-Culture and Memory-Cul¬ 
ture if gone through with perseverance will further develop Concentrative 
ability. In fact, this entire series of lessons will call for Effort and Con¬ 
centration. “Rome was not built in a day”—nor can you achieve real 
greatness in a few months. No. All I can do is to indicate the line and 
the nature of the effort required of you and if clearly followed, Progress 
and Growth will commence from the first day. In connection with this, 
a little digression would be necessary. The Occultist says: “Nature, 
unaided, fails. The purposiveness of Deity, manifesting in nature an 
evolution, is present in all individual centres but it has the way to full 
expression opened out to itself only when the more evolved centres of 
life consciously cooperate with it. Evolution is started and carried only 
by the creation of centres within the GREAT CONSCIOUSNESS and 
by preserving and enlarging or expanding these centres. So long as the 
race had not reached “SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS” (see Yoga Lessons) 
the sub-conscious forces of nature had entire control over evolutionary 
processes, but this stage was reached by the race according to the LAW 
OF AVERAGES in the seventeenth century and you are now expected 
to take your progress in your hands and consciously direct your inner 
forces along such lines as best correspond to the stage of your growth. 
So independent study and steady thinking form the secrets of a keen 
and broad intelligence. You will always find that the man who is more 
powerful than yourself and moves you at his will has an intelligence and 
understanding far superior to yours and he can read your whole nature 
as he would an open book, although you find him quite beyond your 
depth. Learn to regard earnestly the workings of different mentalities 
around you. Become a student of human nature. To you, each man 
ought to be only a partial expression of his mind. Examine closely into 
the motives acting behind each personality. Learn to respond more 
quickly to the Thoughts and Feelings of a man than to his outer speech 
and action. The latter are objective expressions of the subjective self. 
The study of Phrenology and Physiognomy are good things to start with 
in your efforts to acquire knowledge of human nature. Mind is One and 
at the same time, Many. Subjectively, it is ONE. Objectively, many. 


26 


So by looking impartially into “yourself” in the calm light of the intellect 
and through silent introspection, you will always find a clue to the work¬ 
ing bases of other minds. Each man is a puzzle and most of all are 
YOU a puzzle unto yourself. Solve either and you have solved both. 
“MAN, KNOW THYSELF.” 

THE MYSTERY OF THE WILL-FORCE. 

Will-Force is the power of Re-action. It can render all the other 
mental functions active or passive . It is the DETERMINATIVE fac¬ 
ulty and is affected most of all by the JUDGMENT. On the lower plane 
of mind, Will-Power manifests as Desire and is reciprocally influenced 
by outside attractions as well as repulsions. On this plane the Will is 
not free. But when it draws the volition for externalizing itself from 
Within in the light of the Higher Reason, then indeed is it Will-Power. 
On the material the human will is a slave; on the spiritual plane it is 
the sovereign . It may then he called the “awakened” will. It is my con¬ 
viction that the eternal crossing of swords between the Determinists and 
the Libertarians can be set at rest only by a right understanding of the 
spiritual makeup of man, otherwise the arguments of both sets of thinkers 
are equally strong. Each side has got hold of half the truth, but requires 
the reconciling light of transcendental Psychology in order to enable 
us to see the whole truth as it is. However, the point I am driving at is 
that your will is free only when it is self-determined y i. e., when it has 
risen above the impulses of the Lower Personal Self and acts under the 
direction of the Higher Impersonal Self. In order to fix this most im¬ 
portant truth in your mind, let us give you a brief idea of the “I AM” 
consciousness. Do not pass this by as so much dry rot. No one will ever 
or can ever manifest genuine Will-Force of a distinctly spiritual type 
who does not understand the “I AM” consciousness. So please listen 
attentively and think over the following. 

THE “I AM” CONSCIOUSNESS. 

If you just turn in and examine the report of your consciousness 
regarding the se//-dwelling within, you will become conscious of the “I”. 
But if you press your examination a little closer you will find that this 
“I” may be split up into two distinct aspects which, while working in 
unison and conjunction, may nevertheless be set apart in thought. There 
is an “I” function and there is a “me” function and these mental twins 
develop distinct phenomena. The first is the “MASCULINE” principle; 
the second is the “FEMININE” principle. Other terms used in current 
writings on New Psychology are Conscious Mind, Active Mind, Volun- 


27 


tary Mind, Objective Mind and so forth. These all refer to the “I” prin¬ 
ciple. And the “me” form of mind corresponds to the Sub-Conscious 
Mind, Passive Mind, Involuntary Mind, Subjective Mind and so on. 
Ninety-nine p. c. of humanity mean this “me” when they say “I”. Now 
let us examine what this “me” implies. It consists largely of our con¬ 
sciousness, of our body and physical sensations as associated with touch, 
taste, smell, sight and hearing. The consciousness of some of us is largely 
bound up in the physical and carnal side) of life. We “live there.” 
There are some men who consider their “clothes” too as being a part 
of themselves. But as consciousness rises in the scale of evolution, man 
begins to “dissociate” his idea of “me” from the body and he begins to 
regard his body as a beloved companion and as “belonging to” him. He 
then identifies himself with his mental states, emotions, feelings, likes and 
dislikes, habits, qualities and characteristics. But, by and by, he begins 
to realize how even these moods also are subject to change, born and die 
and are subject to the Principles of Rhythm and Polarity. He realizes 
faintly that he can change them by an effort of will and “transmute” 
them into mental states of an exactly opposite nature. Then he again 
begins to “dissociate” himself from his emotions and feelings and at last 
through mental analysis, introspection and concentration, he sets them 
apart into the “not I” collection. He begins then to realize that he is 
something above his body and emotions. So also with the intellectual 
functions. The intellectual man is very apt to think that although his 
physical and emotional selves are something different from him and under 
his control, still his intellect is himself. This is the stage of “Self- 
Consciousness”. “I control my body and emotions.” But as con¬ 
sciousness unfolds intellectual man finds that he can practically stand 
aside and see (mentally, of course) his mind going through various 
processes of intellection. Study of Psychology and Logic will enable 
you to see how all your intellectual processes may be held at arm’s 
length, examined, analysed, labelled and discussed quite with the same 
ease as the professor talks of a solid, liquid and aeriform substances in 
his laboratory. So at last he finds that even the wonderful powers of 
the Intellect must go into the “not I” collection. This is almost as far 
as the average man can realize. You can realize and say “I am not the 
body, not the emotions, not the intellect.” Therefore you see, that side 
of consciousness which is the sum-total of your physical, emotional and 
intellectual functions comprises the “me” or Feminine or Passive mental 
principle. That which can separate itself in thought from all the above 
is the “I” or the Masculine Function. But another step must be taken. 
That which you have been taught to regard as the Spiritual Conscious¬ 
ness (see “Spiritual Consciousness”) will also eventually go into the 


28 


“Not-I” or “me” collection. In brief, the spiritual mind may be said to 
comprise all that is GOOD, NOBLE and GREAT in the field of con¬ 
sciousness. It is the “Super-Conscious” mind, just now. But, mark 
this, when through further evolution, the “I” has mastered this field of 
consciousness also and is able to regard it as being the last of the “me” 
collections, then it will lose its sense of relativity and separation and the 
real individuality, the “I AM” consciousness, will have been realized. 
What do I mean? This “I AM” is not the petulant self-assertion of the 
relative ego. “I” but really means GOD CONSCIOUSNESS as perfect 
Existence, perfect Knowledge or perfect Bliss. It means the realization 
of an Infinite and Eternal Self or Individuality. “He that has lost the 
self has gained the SELF”. Here is the explanation: this little self or 
“I” so long as it is attached to the PERSONALITY which is the product 
of the “me” consciousness is bound down to the relative plane. It can 
think only through only one brain, enjoy through one body and such 
happiness as it gets is transitory, short-lived and impermanent because 
this world of relative existence is itself essentially changeable. It is per¬ 
manent only in its impermanence. So long as the “I” thinks and while 
only for the benefits of its personal self, both thinking and willing are 
limited and not free. But when it has succeeded in joining itself to the 
Spiritual mind and works for, aspires after the Larger Self—the “I AM” 
—it has to renounce or “disattach” itself from the personal self and 
work under the guidance of the impersonal Higher Self. “I refuse to 
be contained within my hat and boots,” said Walt Whitman. When 
the Vedantist says “Aham Brahmasmi”—“I am the absolute”—he does 
not mean this lower “I”. No, no. He is not built that way. For him 
the moorings of self-consciousness are out. He has lost all sense of his 
particular relative “I” and has one-d himself with the absolute “I AM” 
•—the impersonal, intangible, immortal, omnipotent Self of and over all. 
This “I am” is Spirit or Atman. There can be but one Individuality— 
that of the Absolute. It becomes objectively expressed in man as Cosmic 
Consciousness. Subjectively it is God. Now then you have an idea of 
the “I am” Consciousness. Hold fast to it. It is your real, Larger Self. 
In the understanding and the exercise of the Will-Power the “I” or the 
Positive Mental Vv'y dple is the chief factor. To use the one you must 
understand the otl Will is a Soul-Power. This “I”—as I have ex¬ 
plained it above— ib negative to the “I AM” or God—both meaning the 
same thing. It is positive in relation to the Higher Self. This “I” is the 
future promise of the “I AM”. It is true it shall lose itself in finding its 
Self, but so does the child when it grows into full manhood. Christ was 
one with his Father-in-Heaven ( i . e., on the spiritual plane) and therefore 
he could still the waves and raise the dead. Yet just you examine the 


29 


nature of Lord Christ’s Will-Force. Think of his constant retirement 
into the Silence in order to obtain inspiration for his work in the objecthe 
universe. Again, note his utter indifference to and absolute control over 
his personal self. Did he care whether his body would live or die? Did 
he live for the enjoyments of the flesh? Did he “play to the gallery” and 
act and speak for any worldly gain or low considerations? No! He had 
forgotten the interests of the flesh in his earnest enthusiasm in the cause 
of the Eternal Spirit. He was not moved by any dammed sense of pru¬ 
dence and caution. He drew the “Motives” that energised his Will- 
Power in the life of Action from Within. Nothing from outside, nothing 
from the world of lower attractions could in the least swerve his inner 
determination or unbalance his brain. Do you or can you prepare your¬ 
self to follow in his steps? Then my first point and the most infallible 
method of awakening your Will-Power is this: 

(a) Teach Thy Will to “Resist and Renounce.” Strengthen your 
Will-Power by Renunciation. By Resistance is not meant outer re¬ 
sistance or aggressiveness. I find that all the modern teachers of 
Hypnotism advise their students to develop Will-Power by exercising 
it upon others. This is placing the cart before the horse. We Hindus 
know better. No; by Resistance to and Repression of your lower De¬ 
sire-Nature is meant letting the more difficult choice exercise its com¬ 
pelling and restraining power over the easier one. Says Sister Nivedita: 
“The Indian ideal is that man whose lower mind is so perfectly under 
control that he can at any moment plunge into the thought-ocean and 
remain there at will without the least possibility of a sudden 
break and unexpected return to the life of the senses.” Yes, your 
interests should be within and not without. You must rise above all per¬ 
sonal impulse. Even in this world you find that men of distinction, fame 
and honour have achieved recognition by practising a little self-denial, 
which is a “milder” form of absolute Renunciation as practised by true 
Sanyasis. The man who can work at his aim with perseverance and 
denies himself the mess of pottage of present indulgence in view 
of some future gain develops Will-Power. So in training your Will to 
‘resist’, you must, as a first step, sternly refuse to indulge impulses, de¬ 
sires and tendencies not in consonance with the dictates of your Higher 
Self. You must actually go out of your way and “deny” yourself the 
little or great “comforts” to which you are or have been accustomed. 
The strongest-willed man is he who has the greatest control over his in¬ 
clinations, and who can ‘force’ himself to do such things as he is naturally 


30 


most inclined to do. This is a characteristic which cannot be developed 
in a day. There are some children and even grown-up' men and women 
who mistake their ‘obstinacy’ for Will-Power. They want a thing and 
when they do not get it they tear their hair, gnash their teeth, stamp 
their feet and fly into a terrible passion. Since people think that these 
uncontrolled creatures are strong-willed while all that you could say about 
them is that they are utter slaves to their desires. You must practise 
self-denial in fifty different ways and force yourself to do certain things, 
‘little and big,’ every day purely for developing this power of Resistance. 
No short-cut to this. Some children develop it unconsciously by ‘forcing’ 
themselves to study when they might play, and by applying themselves 
to such studies as are dry and uninteresting to them they thus practise 
voluntary Concentration. Practise self-denial in every possible way. 
Cut off such luxuries as you think “you must have.” “Take a cold bath 
when you would prefer a warm one. Arise promptly in the morning. 
Make yourself call upon people you have avoided. Stand up in a street 
car when you would prefer sitting; walk when it is convenient to ride. 
Make engagements with yourself and keep them. Promise yourself that 
when you see something to be done you will spring at once to it however 
strong may be the inclination to put it off awhile” and back of it all let 
there be the auto-suggestion: “I am doing all these hard things in order 
to build up my Will-Power and each time l V succeed in forcing ‘my mind’ 
to do a thing or not to do it I make the next victory easier and my Will- 
Power stronger .” Of course the above is only a hint as to your line of 
practise. 

( b ) You must not give yourself such hard tasks of Self-Develop¬ 
ment as might be too heavy and beyond the present strength of your Will. 
In denying yourself you develop self-control. In forcing yourself to do 
certain things you develop powers of Self-Expression. In one the Will 
moves along negative lines. In the other along positive lines. Both are 
necessary. The man who cannot control and command himself can 
never develop and express Himself. But be sure to begin with easy 
things and then as you gain in confidence you may attempt more difficult 
feats. 

( c ) The faculties of Courage and Confidence are essentially im¬ 
portant. Nothing weakens the will so much as Fear and lack of Self- 
Confidence. Self-Confidence is not blustering self-conceit. That within 
you which says “I CAN” when calmly and doggedly backed by your 
“I Will” when deliberately translated into action develops Will-Force 
and commands startling results. 

(d) Always hold these words before your passive Mind: 


31 






1. Earnestness. 2. Determination. 3. Courage. 4. Confidence. 
5. Stick-to-it-ive-ness. 6. Patience. 7. I can and I will. 

(e) The tendency of the Masculine function of your mind to “I” 
is towards giving, expressing or projecting energy; that of the Feminine 
is towards generating and creating mental progeny such as thoughts, 
mental energy, new habits, etc. It is why the Feminine Principle has 
been called the “mental womb” by ancient philosophers. It comprises 
also the faculty of Imagination. The Masculine function does the work 
of the ‘Will’ in its varied phases. The Feminine function receives im¬ 
pressions and generates mental offspring in the form of new thoughts, 
ideas, concepts, thought-habits and so ( forth. Its powers of creative 
energy are strikingly marvellous and have been proved and attested 
to in Psychological experiments conducted by the best known mental 
scientists of the day. But “positive” mental energy must be projected by 
the < I f into the Passive Mind through concentration, suggestion and will¬ 
ing before the latter can be started to work along any line of creative 
effort. This suggestion may be given by you to your sub-conscious mind 
or it may come as an outer impression. Unless you control your Passive 
Mind, it is sure to be controlled by others. Then you are a slave. Now 
in cultivating the above seven qualities, you should take up one word at 
a time and let the outer form sink into your mind. Place yourself in a 
relaxed and passive condition. Close your eyes and picture the form of 
the word to yourself, for instance, D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N. Em¬ 
ploy the Imagination and visualize mentally. This done, i. e. y when the 
word-picture is well photographed upon your mind and fastened in place, 
your next step will be to picture yourself the Ideas, qualities, physical 
and mental characteristics, etc., associated with the word. Your third 
step is to calmly, concentratedly and confidently command your Passive 
Mind to generate that quality. Remember, your mind will at first rebel, 
but a very little persistence will lead to complete success. Repeat the 
auto-suggestions daily at the same time. See that it manifests in Action. 
Act it out as often as possible. Of course your efforts will be imperfect 
to begin with, but, never mind, go ahead, keeping firm hold on your “I 
can and I will” in spite of all things and success is quite certain. Once 
you have developed these seven qualities, you can do anything. 

(/) Do not let your friends or anyone—no matter who!—deflect 
you from your resolutions. “Let not thy right hand know what thy left 
hand does.” Talk never. Let results show. The Lord has hidden him¬ 
self best and His work is wonderful beyond compare! Your very friends 
and relatives will spit upon you for lacking any of these qualities. Do 
not ever impose your will upon others, but never let others to impose upon 


32 


you against the sanction of your own judgment. In fact, none can unless 
you are a weakling and fickle-minded. 

(g) Frequent the company of chaste, strong-willed men and you 
cannot but grow strong. 

(h) Read Literature on this subject and obtain all possible aid 
through Knowledge. 

(i) If your faculty of imagination and idealism are undeveloped, 
cultivate them, because it is these two that make a god of a man. Phil¬ 
osophers, scholars, poets and musicians have them well-developed. But 
where imagination is uncontrolled by higher reason and where idealism 
is not backed by a strong will, there you have the idle ‘dreamer of 
dreams’ and such a state of mind is reprehensible and pitiable indeed! 

(;) Will-Power grows by faith in one’s ability by exercise; by 
devotion to the UNCONDITIONED SPIRIT. 

(k) In your efforts to develop Will-Power, be not afraid that your 
health will break down. In fact, Perfect Health is the result of a perfect 
Will. Deny the power of disease and weakness over yourself. “I can 
never be ill. My body is my slave. It shall always manifest perfect 
health.” Convince your passive mind—which has charge of your body— 
of this by repeated commands, demands and assertions. Always think 
of your body as being as strong as adamant. Never talk of either health 
or disease or weakness. You must be above caring for these. They are 
your Natural rights. Only when you lower yourself they have power 
to trouble you. Go beyond the lower self. Your business is to care for 
the Higher-Self—that in which “You” live, move, and have your being. 
Also teach and train your Will to move along negative lines of self-repres¬ 
sion as well as along positive lines of Self-Expression. Balance both. 
The former precedes the latter. Now I will pass on to the subject of 
SELF-CONTROL, with the distinct understanding that Self-Controf 
and Will-Power are inextricably bound up in each other. You get the 
real “practical work” in the endeavour for Self-Control. 

SELF-CONTROL. 

Rightly has it been remarked that is easy to talk of and write upon 
this subject but most difficult to possess it. Perfect Self-Control means 
infinite power. Only the Buddas and the Christs of this World mani¬ 
fested Perfect Self-Control. “Anything short of the absolute control of 
thought, word and deed is only sowing wild oats,” said Vivekananda. It 
is with no little diffidence that I approach this subject as whoever handles 
this subject is rightly culpable as being a “Do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do” 


33 


class of writers. Still you can make appreciable progress in this direction 
by mastering these instructions, going through the exercises and last but 
most important by “carrying the principles in your mind” and applying 
them as far as you can in your daily life. Nothing is more conducive to 
rapid growth and development as the making of the “little and big” af¬ 
fairs in your work-a-day life, the occasion for the practical expression 
and conscious translation of your ideals. We all are guilty of a serious 
mistake in setting apart our higher ideals for regular ‘practice’ hours and 
leading a life of low and quite different ideals in our ordinary life. The 
natural process, as you can see, is to LIVE OUT your highest ideals 
every minute of your life. Nothing is more important than the daily 
occupation of a man and if he fails to bring his ideals right into these 
little things, then Success will ever elude him. A mental scientist has 
summed up the entire secret of Character-Building in this valuable ad¬ 
vice on Objective Concentration: the simple task of mental concentra¬ 
tion on whatever task, business or profession a man is engaged in is the 
beginning of the mastery which is the perfection of Objective Concen¬ 
tration. Whatever you are doing be master of your work. If you are a 
cobbler mend shoes in a perfect manner; if a barber keep your razors and 
scissors in a state that will excite the admiration of your customers; if 
a tailor make the coat fit like a glove; if a clerk keep your accounts in 
apple-pie order; if a builder scorn your jerry-brother; if a singer en¬ 
chant the listener with a concord of sweet sounds; if an actor enter into 
the spirit of the character and make the play-goer feel that 
“All the world’s a stage 
And all the men and women merely players, 

They have their exits and their entrance 
And one man in his time plays many parts.” 

If a leader in any department of thought or action, remember that 
if to you much is given, from you also much is required, for the respon¬ 
sibility of the lives and happiness of your fellows rests heavy on your 
shoulders, whether you know it or not and thousands may secretly curse 
your incapacity and bungling. It is infinitely better to be a good cobbler 
than a bad ruler. 

I believe the above advice if followed conscientiously by you would 
go to make you really fit for initiation into the more advanced stages of 
mastery. Take it to heart by all means. Be convinced, the man who 
looks for quick results and a royal road to the mastery of Mental Science 
breaks down in frequent despair at apparent failures and neglects his 
daily work will never go far. In fact, his very impatience will lead to 
failure. No individual life is fully rounded out unless some useful work 
forms part of it. The Yogi who has renounced the world has already 


34 


done his work and is ahead of the times. The real hermit and the saint 
are the Pillars of Strength on which this world stands. I cannot repeat 
this too often. The mere fact of their breathing the same atmosphere 
as you is a benediction and an inestimable boon unto the race. 

PRELIMINARY STEPS. 

“The first requisite,” says Mr. Atkinson, “of concentering is the 
ability to shut out outside thoughts, sights and sounds; to conquer inat¬ 
tention; to obtain perfect control over the body and mind. The body 
must be brought under the control of the mind; the mind under the 
direct control of the Will. The Will is strong enough, but the mind needs 
strengthening by being brought under the direct influence of the will. 
The mind, strengthened by the impulse of the will, becomes a much more 
powerful projector of thought vibrations than otherwise and the vibra¬ 
tions have much greater force and effect. 

The first four exercises are meant to train the mind to readily 
obey the commands of the mind. Take them in the privacy of your 
own room and never talk of them to others. Also do not let their ap¬ 
parent simplicity lead you to neglect them. If you are one of those 
empty-brained men who go about talking of their exercises hoping in this 
way to win praise, you will never succeed. Be serious, earnest and sin¬ 
cere in your work. Give up, once for ever, all fickle-mindedness and 
learn to accumulate Power in silence and through work. Prayer gives 
you strength to “work”—the answer comes from your Larger Self— 
which is the Spirit of God “brooding” over all and pouring strength into 
all. But do not fly in the face of DEITY by expecting it to “do the 
work” for you while you go about loafing after offering your prayer. 
Nonsense. That man prays who works constantly, silently, patiently, 
unceasingly and intelligently. 


Exercise I. 

Sit still; relax your body all over and then neck, chest, and head 
held in a straight line; legs crossed one under the other and weight of 
the body resting easily upon the ribs; right hand on right leg, left hand 
on left leg. There should not be a single movement of the muscles in 
any part of the body. Mind, you must avoid all rigidness and tension of 
the body. There should not be the least strain on muscles. You should 
be able to “relax” completely. Start with 5 minutes. Continue till you 
can accomplish the 5 minutes sitting without any conscious effort, increase 
to 15 minutes which is about all you need. The aim is to give you 
absolute dominion over all involuntary muscular movements. It is also 


35 


an ideal “rest-cure” after fatiguing physical and mental exercise or 
exertion. The principal thing is “STILLNESS” and you can, if you 
like, practise it even sitting on a chair or anywhere else; the idea is 
one of “relaxation” and physical and mental quietude. Let not the ap¬ 
parent simplicity of this exercise deceive you. It is not so very easy 
after all. You will find that by concentrating the mind upon a particular 
train of thoughts or ideas or by joining the mind to the Larger Self, you 
can easily lose all idea of the body and thus maintain this stillness for 
a considerable length of time. Genius, inspiration and intuition are 
more or less the scientific and psychological results of self-forgetfulness. 
“When he sits down to meditate,” it was said of Vivekananda, “in 10 
minutes he becoSfes quite unconscious of the body although it may be 
black with mosquitoes.” Do you understand now? Absolute physical 
self-forgetfulness is essential to deep concentration. Dr. Fahnestock 
called it the “STATUVOLIC” condition or that state in which the Will- 
Power is really active and the ‘outer-self is totally in abeyance and for¬ 
gotten. 

Exercise 2. 

Cultivate a self-poised attitude and demeanour in your everyday 
life. Avoid a tense, strained, nervous, fidgety manner and an over¬ 
anxious appearance. Be easy, self-possessed and dignified in your bear¬ 
ing. Be courteous, thoughtful and quiet. Mental exercise and Will- 
Culture will enable you to acquire the proper carriage and demeanour. 
Stop swinging your feet and moving your hands or rocking your self 
backwards in your chair while talking or sitting. Stop biting your nails, 
chewing your moustaches, rolling your tongue in your mouth or any 
other unnecessary movement such as may have become “second nature” 
with you while studying, reading or writing. Never twitch or jerk your 
body. Never wink your eyes or look blank. Train yourself to stand 
sudden and loud noises with equanimity and composure. Such things 
betray lack of control. Do not let anything outside (or even within you) 
disturb your composure. When engaged in conversation let your speech 
be calm and measured and your voice well-controlled and even. A certain 
degree of reserve should always be observed. In short, keep yourself 
well under control on all occasions. You can acquire this poise by 
always carrying the thoughts of “Firmness,” “Self-Control”, and “Self- 
Respect” in your mind and letting these express themselves in your out¬ 
ward bearing. Avoid bluster, self-assertion, gossip, levity or light talk, 
too much laughter, excitement and so forth. Too much laughter weak¬ 
ens the will. Be a quiet, earnest-thinking being. Be serious. Regard 
“solitude” as the greatest medium of self-development. 


36 


Exercise 3. 


Fill a wine glass full of water and taking the glass between the 
fingers, extend arm directly in front of you. Fix your eyes upon the 
glass and endeavour to hold your arm so steady that no quiver will be 
noticeable. Commence with one minute exercise and increase until 
the 5 minutes limit is reached. Alternate right and left arms. Increase 
to 15 minutes. 


Exercise 4. 

Sit erect in your chair, with your head up, chin out and shoulders 
back. Raise your right arm until it is level with your shoulders, pointing 
to the right. Turn your head and fix your gaze on your hand and hold 
the arm perfectly steady for one minute. Repeat with left arm. Increase 
the time gradually to 5 minutes. The palms of the hands should be 
turned downwards. 

The following exercises are meant to aid you in getting under con¬ 
trol, such mental faculties will produce voluntary movements. 

Exercise 5. 

Sit in front of a table, placing your hands upon the table, the fists 
clinched and lying with the back of the hand upon the table, the thumb 
being doubled over the fingers. Fix your gaze upon the fist for awhile 
and then slowly extend the thumb, keeping your whole attention fixed 
upon the act, just as if it was of the greatest importance. Then slowly 
extend your first finger, then your second and so on, until they are all 
open and extended. Then reverse the process, closing first the little 
finger and continuing the closing until the fist is again in its original 
position, with the thumb closed over the fingers. Repeat with left hand. 
Continue this exercise 5 times at a sitting, then increase to 10 times. 
Don't forget to keep your attention closely fixed upon the finger move¬ 
ments. That is the main point. 

Exercise 6. 

Place the fingers of one hand between the fingers of the other, leav¬ 
ing the thumbs free. Then slowly twirl the thumbs one over the other, 
with a circular motion. Be sure to keep the attention firmly fixed upon 
the end of the thumbs. 

N. B. Exercises Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 have been culled (with slight 
modifications by me) from the works of Yogi Ramacharaka. 


37 


EXPERT YOGI EXERCISE ON 
WILL-CULTURE & MEMORY-CULTURE 

Exercise 7. 

Forty-eight hours after the full moon in each month, go by yourself 
into a darkened chamber and quietly concentrate your mind upon one 
thing. Do this as long as possible without allowing other thoughts to 
enter your mind. At first you will find that your thoughts will fly from 
one thing to another and it will be hard for you to accomplish this, but 
by continued practice you will be able to think of one thing for a long 
time. This should be continued for 5 nights in succession and one hour 
each night. 

Exercise 8. 

Go out into the open air each evening when the sky is clear and see 
how many stars you can count without allowing any other thoughts to 
enter your mind. The more stars you can count without thinking of 
anything the greater the degree of development produced. Quite an 
interesting exercise. 


Exercise 9. 

Take 12 ordinary pebbles. Place them in your left hand. Then 
with your right hand pick up one pebble, hold it at arm’s length and 
concentrate your mind thereupon without allowing other thoughts for 
full 60 seconds. So with all the pebbles. Then start picking up with 
left hand. Do this for one hour daily. 

Exercise 10. 

Concentrate your mind determinedly upon some one at a distance 
without allowing other thoughts. Will that he do get strong, healthy and 
spiritual. Get up a mental picture of your subject as if sitting before 
you. Then give earnest, positive, forceful suggestions to his sub-conscious 
mind. Will that he get into sympathy with you, write you on the sub¬ 
ject and earnestly co-operate with you in his spiritual regeneration. Do 
it calmly and earnestly. 


Exercise 11. 

Get some moistened sand, spread over the surface about a yard 
square. Make it perfectly smooth. Then with your index finger draw 
any characters or pictures in the sand. For instance, a square, a triangle 


38 


or any other figure. Fasten your gaze upon this figure. Concentrate 
your mind calmly thereupon and will that the thought-form so created 
by your concentration be transmitted to someone (whom you know to be 
sensitive to your will). Do this for 15 minutes daily at the same time 
till your subject gets the impression. Ask him to sit relaxed at the same 
time in the silence in a receptive mental attitude. Face the direction, 
North, South, East or West in which you send your thought. Imagine 
a psychic wire connecting you with your subject and aim straight. Re¬ 
member, the Will-Power is represented in symbology by a straight line 
because it goes straight to its mark. 

Exercise 12. 

Every night before retiring, concentrate upon your passive mind: 
“When I get up in morning, my Will-power and Thought-Force will have 
increased. I expect you to bring about a thorough change in my Will- 
Force. It will gain in vigour, resolution, firmness and confidence. It 
must grow strong, strong, strong.” Project these positive suggestions 
into your subjective self earnestly, confidently and concentratedly. You 
will progress quickly by leaps and bounds. Every morning shall find 
you stronger and full of vim, sap and energy. Persevere, persevere. In 
following up such ideals to a successful conclusion you must have an 
(i) overpowering desire; (ii) a strong belief in your ability to accomplish 
anything; (iii) an invincible determination not a backboneless ‘I will 
try to’; (iv) earnest expectation. This is an important and an infallible 
method in Will-development. 

Exercise 13. 

Go by yourself into a room where you will not be disturbed. At the 
beginning ‘relax’ all over. Then count from one to ten without allow¬ 
ing any other thoughts. As soon as you accomplish this, your mind is in 
a receptive state. Concentrate as before and order your sub-conscious 
self to evolve a strong, infallible memory. Form your own auto-sug¬ 
gestions. 

Exercise 14. 

Pick out half a dozen unfamiliar faces. Vividly impress them upon 
your subjective mind. Then recall them at least once each day for full 
one year, each day impressing at least one more new face. Should you 
find you are forgetting any of your older faces, do not add new ones but 
firmly fix the other old faces in your mind through concentration. This 
is a very interesting exercise. Memory belongs to the sub-conscious 
mind, remember. 


39 


Exercise 15. 


Concentrate the mind on a paragraph in some holy book and com¬ 
mit to memory. Learn by heart one paragraph daily taking care not to 
forget the old ones. In time, you will improve wonderfully. 

Exercise 16. 

People with weak memories always lack concentrative ability. Con¬ 
centration is the key to all mind-power. You will find the above exer¬ 
cises quite ‘tedious’ and monotonous. But you can train your ‘attention’ 
only by giving it trivial and ‘dry’ exercises. The strong will can cope 
with the most ‘monotonous’ and uninteresting tasks without experiencing 
fatigue. You must set yourself such tasks as might seem like ‘work’ to 
your attention. Remember, the effort required to concentrate attention 
voluntarily on uninteresting, dry and monotonous works strengthens and 
develops Will-Power and gives you ‘mental muscle.’ You will thereby 
acquire firm control over mind and body and be ‘Master’ over your lower 
impulses. Power over self will express outwardly as power over others. 
If you can control yourself, you will find no difficulty in impressing your 
will on others. But, mark you, this sacred power should be used only to 
elevate, stimulate and strengthen others. Try your Will upon your per¬ 
sonality in all possible ways and be satisfied with nothing short of per¬ 
fect control. The absolute mastery of ‘self’ ought to be your aim. I 
have given you the real secrets. You must exercise your own ingenuity 
and intelligence in utilising them towards your Self-development. I leave 
you to finish the fight for yourself. Get up and start in to work at your 
task from to-day and not to-morrow. Back of all efforts, always have 
this positive incentive and auto-suggestion: 

“THIS IS TO DEVELOP MY WILL-POWER AND NO TEM¬ 
PORARY PAIN CAN EQUAL THE POWER AND HAPPINESS 
ARISING OUT OF SELF-CONTROL.” 

Get firm control over your emotions. Use this natural force but be 
not used by it. Control over speech will lead to Emotion-control. Al¬ 
ways talk to the point. * Cultivate silence. Repress volubility. Be brief 
in speech and writing. Keep a cool head. Be level-headed and con¬ 
centrative. 


40 



GLEANINGS FROM PROFESSOR JAMES 
ON THE LAW OF HABIT. 

An acquired habit, from the physiological point of view, is nothing 
but a new pathway of discharge formed in the brain, by which certain 
incoming currents ever often tend to escape. 

The great thing is to make our nervous system our ally instead of 
our enemy_Guard against ways that are likely to be disad¬ 

vantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague. 

The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the 
effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind 
will be set free for their own proper work. There is no more miserable 
human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision and 
for whom (every act) the time of rising and going to bed, the beginning 
of every bit of work, are subjects for express volitional deliberation. 

Maxim I. In the acquisition of a new thought or the leaving off of 
an old one we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and 
decided initiative as possible. 

Maxim II. Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit 
is securely rooted in your life. 

Each lapse is like letting fall a ball of string wdiich one is carefully 
winding up; a single slip means more than a great many turns will wind 
again. 

Continuity of training is the great means of making the nervous 
system act infallibly right. It is necessary above all things never to 
lose a battle. Every gain on the wrong side undoes the effect of many 
conquests on the right. 

The essential precaution is to so regulate the opposing powers that 
the one may have a series of uninterrupted success, until repetition has 
fortified it to such a degree as to enable it to cope with the opposition 
under any circumstances. 

The need of securing success at the outset is imperative. To be 
habitually successful is the thing. 

Be careful not to give the will such a task as to insure its defeat 
at the outset, but provided one can stand it, a sharp period of suffering, 
and then a free time is the best to aim at, whether in giving up the opium 
habit or in simply changing one’s hours of rising or of work. 

It is surprising how soon a desire will die of inanition if it be never 
fed. 

Without unbroken advance there is no such thing as accumulation 
of the ethical forces possible, and to make this possible and to exercise 
and habituate us in it is the sovereign blessing of regular work. 


41 



Maxim III. Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every 
resolution you make and on every emotional prompting you may experi¬ 
ence in the direction of habits you aspire to gain. 

It is not the moment of their forming but in the moment of their 
producing motor effects, that resolves and aspirations communicate the 
new ‘set’ to the brain. 

The actual presence of the practical opportunity alone furnishes 
the fulcrum upon which the lever can rest, by means of which the moral 
will may multiply its strength and raise itself aloft. He who had no solid 
ground to press against will never get beyond the stage of empty gesture 
making. 

When a resolve or a fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate 
without bearing practical fruit, it is a waste and a chance lost; it works 
so as positively to hinder future resolutions and emotions from taking 
the normal path of discharge. 

If we let our emotions evaporate, they get in a way of evaporating. 

WORSHIP OF THE TERRIBLE. 

The attitude of the soul which is not to be baffled by the lower 
nature or the “Personal Self” should be to seek Death and not life, to 
hurl oneself upon the sword’s point and become one with the terrible. 
Those who are commissioned by the Lord to bear aloft the torch of spirit 
are fated to see every joy of the senses turn to ashes and crushing blows 
upon their eyes to the unsubstantiality of the relative life of Maya. 

“The lion when stricken to the heart gives out his loudest roar, 
When smitten on the head the cobra lifts its hood 
And the majesty of the Soul comes out only when a man is 
wounded to his depths.” 

“The Western ideal is to be doing: the Eastern to be suffering. The 
perfect life would be a harmony between (selfless or non-attached) doing 
and suffering. Worship the terrible. Worship Death, for its own sake; 
despair for its own sake; pain for its own sake. Yet this is not the 
coward’s or the suicide’s or the weakling’s morbid love of Death, but it 
is the cry of the philosopher who has sounded everything to its depths 
and knows intensely the vanity of the desire for happiness on the rela¬ 
tive plane of limitations. Remember the triumphant cry of St. Francis 
of Assisi: “WELCOME, SISTER DEATH!” “Be witness”—of all that 
goes on but be not entangled. Reserve to yourself the power to remain 
unattached at all times. Accept nothing however pleasant, if it conceals a 
fetter into thy Soul. At a word stand ready to sever any connection 
that gives a hint of soul-bondage. Keep thy mind clear. Keep thy will 


42 


pure. Attain the Impersonal Standpoint, 0 you man! there alone canst 
thou quench thy thirst for happiness never on the plane of personal. Who 
and what dies and is reborn?—Your lower self, your personality. 

“Sometimes naked, sometimes mad, 

Now as a scholar, again as a fool 
Here a rebel, there a saint, 

Thus they appear on the earth—the Perfect Ones. Param- 
hamsas)”—Viveka Chudamani. 

If you accept the report of the senses as final, you will say “soul 
for nature”—but if you can gain the spiritual point of view, you will 
say “no-nature for soul.” Evolution, devolution and involution are all 
in nature and will go on cyclically and eternally. All this is merely due 
to the wish of the soul to manifest itself. But such expression can come 
only when the soiil lives on its plane. Say “Money is my slave, not I.” 
Say “Nature is my slave, not I”. Give up life, give up body, give up all 
desire for enjoyment on the relative plane. So shall you transcend all 
limitation. Your real nature is Infinite and Absolute. Only when you 
lower your nature by limiting it to the “particular self,” do you become 
bound and unhappy. On the relative plane, you are a slave to the pair 
of opposites—life and death, pleasure and pain, and so on. Here is 
limitation. Here you are a slave to competition, and “Survival of the 
Fittest” is the law. Be not blinded by the flashing light of the glare 
of modern civilization. Every morsel you eat is ground out of your 
brother’s blood. Slave to a breath of air, slave to food, slave to life, 
slave to Death, slave to a word of praise, slave to a word of blame— 
“Slave—Slave—Slave”—that is your condition. The Soul cannot stoop 
to any compromise. It refuses to conquer nature by obedience. It will 
conquer nature by renouncing the body and by knowing itself. Find 
thyself bodiless. Power felt within is soul; without, nature. “We must 
crush Law (nature) and become outlaws.” 

“Deliver thou thyself, by thyself 

Ah, do not let thyself sink 

For thou art thyself thy greatest friend 

And thyself (the relative T) thy greatest enemy.” 

This, student, is not the ravings of a lunatic. It is the secret of 
SAT-CHIT-ANANDA—eternal existence, knowledge and bliss. Attain¬ 
ment of perfection means absolute Freedom. Do you or would you 
know the meaning of Life? It is the search after Sat-chit-ananda. But 
man is trying to realise this Perfect Existence in the transitory things of 
the earth-plane. Only when he knows that not attachment to the things 
of the “world, the flesh and the devil” but renunciation of same and the 


43 


bringing oi the Impersonal Ideal into his everyday life would lead him 
to it, then Maya will have fulfilled its purpose—which is to show man 
his divinity. “Kill out the desire for life. Kill out Ambition. Kill out 
desire for comfort; yet work as those who love life. Respect life as 
those who are ambitious. Be happy as those are who live for happiness.’’ 

So says Mabel Collins in the Light on the Path. Yes, you must 
work constantly, train your intellect, develop your personality but do 
not do all this for your own personal self but for the Higher Self, The 
BRAHMAN, Eternal—to manifest through. As soon as you lose this 
view-point your personal strivings end in Pain and Disappointment. 
Work as hard as the ambitious man and the lover of pleasures but re¬ 
member your actions are inspired by different motives. Here Spirit 
is the director. 

“To the work thou hast the right, O Partha, but not to the fruits 
thereof”— Gita. All clinging to results leads to degeneration. The soul 
should cling to nothing. All work and all effort must be dedicated unto 
the Higher Self. When you care for the results you are only worship¬ 
ping the lower self. Hence the value of selfless labour, thus the maya- 
fascinated mind is purified and de-hypnotised and we attain to the emer¬ 
gence of the personal into the Impersonal. Either say “I am thou, 0 
Lord!” and thus out at the root of the lower “I” and destroy it for ever 
or say “I am nothing, 0 Eternal One! thou art everything” and thereby 
lose the lower into the Higher. The first is for the Gnani—the second for 
the Bhakti Yogi. Both mean the same thing. Love everyone but do 
not depend upon the love of any one. Give everything. Take nothing. 
Serve every one. Do not care for service and gratitude in return. You 
are the Heir to the Infinite. All Power is behind you. But so long as 
you are a beggar, a beggar shall you remain. Renounce the lower self, 
Live for the Higher. What you call Universal Love is the expression 
on the lower plane of the subjective reception of ABSOLUTE UNITY 
on the Buddhic plane and in SAMADHI (Final Illumination). 


44 


LESSONS III AND IV. 


THE YOGI SELF-DEVELOPER 
Introduction. 

In lessons 1 and 2 we have initiated you into the mysteries of Will 
and Mind-Force, the governing principles of the Universe and the laws 
of their development. We have also taught you how to acquire absolute 
control over Body and Mind. In these lessons we have striven to point 
out to you the right “Mental Attitude” towards your daily life, so that 
while mainly engaged in the task of Self-Culture you might also lend a 
hand in the great work of strengthening the race. Moreover our con¬ 
victions, beliefs, and ideals are no mean, are insignificant factors in the 
determination of our health and environmental conditions. They react 
on our circumstances as well as on the WHOLE MAN. We have also 
given you important points of instruction in Soul Unfoldment, Medita¬ 
tion, Bramhacharya, Breathing, Fasting, Health-Culture, Body building 
and shown you, as distinctly as we could, the exact process of developing 
a single virtue in your self thereby you may master the process and 
method of developing other virtues, the lines of action and thought being 
well nigh similar in all, and foculising at certain common points of pri¬ 
mary importance. We have given the bare body of truth in connection 
with the development, evolution and unfoldment of the body and the 
soul, stripping of the metaphysical trappings and the theoretical draperies 
in which they are clothed. We have had to literally rend asunder the 
heavy wheel that had the divine face of truth. Hence our lessons are 
brief and to the point. We have had to contend against and overcome 
another serious difficulty. Expressed in the matter of fact English lan¬ 
guage, these wondrous truths of mysticism cannot but lose the air of 
profound solemnity and sanctity that pervades the subject of Yoga in 
Sanskrit literature. The wise and thoughtful student and we certainly 
do not write for light-headed and non-serious people, will not let their 
apparent simplicity deceive him or throw him off his guard. Rather 
let him realise that these lessons can be pressed into service in all 
directions and in all spheres of life. Let him just put them into practice 
and he will at once see their practical bearing on his daily life. These 
lessons do not go into the “WHAT” but point out the “HOW” of every 
thing. We leave every student to suit his individual case as to the intel- 


45 


lectual side of the ETERNAL PROBLEM. In conclusion we have to 
say that this Course does not pretend to deal with the advanced stages 
of Yoga, much less exhaust them. But they will, positively and decidedly 
prepare him for those higher things by lifting the PALL OF DARKNESS 
from his mind. 


46 


LESSONS III AND IV. 


Quite a number of you there must be to whom the “Fearless” mind 
is not only an enviable possession but something to which you are and 
have been an utter stranger. You may not say it to others—confession 
may hurt your pride—but secretly away deep in your heart, there resides 
strongly and fiercely the desire to be a Fearless Individual. And it is 
a worthy desire. To be able to wipe off all fearfulness, anxiety and 
worry from your mental tablets is no easy task, but when once accom¬ 
plished, it gives you a glimpse of Heavenly Joy and Superhuman Strength. 
And, You can be Fearless , I tell you—each one of you—you can be what 
you will to be. I have seen it. I have done it. I am going to give you 
sound and positive instructions in this paper so that you may forge 
ahead towards your goal. These instructions are based upon good psy¬ 
chological grounds, have been tested and proved by millions and proved 
a blessing to whoever took them up in all earnestness and gave them a 
trial. If you want to be Fearless, hesitate not to follow them to the 
very letter. 

I shall not waste space telling you about the dire results of fear, 
cowardice, worry, anxiety and the vile brood of negative thoughts branch¬ 
ing of FEAR. Physically, mentally and spiritually man is what he 
thinks in his heart. As you think, so you are. Mind governs everything, 
creates or destroys everything, on the physical as well as other planes. 
Your thoughts affect your health, your circumstances, your environ¬ 
ments; those who come into daily contact with you, those who are sepa¬ 
rated from you by space, those who are what you call “dead” but who 
are really alive in spirit-life and bound to you more or less by mystic 
chords of sympathy in thought and soul-life, affecting you and being 
affected by you every minute. The range of influence exerted by a man’s 
daily thoughts is simply tremendous. Trees and animals, minerals and 
other objects of material life absorb it. The walls of your room, the 
clothes you wear, the letters you write are all being impressed by the 
aura of your thought-force. If you go to a clairvoyant or a psycho- 
meterist and put into his hands a letter, a lock of hair, a cloth-piece, or 
anything else pertaining to one of your friends, he or she will psychically 
trace out the personal appearance, temperament, past and present history, 


47 



and everything else in connection with that person. Marvellous, ‘Impos¬ 
sible’ you cry in surprise. But it is done. Realise through study and 
investigation the importance of your thought-life and avoid vitiating it 
by fear-thoughts, hate-thoughts, sensual and sensuous thoughts and van¬ 
ity thoughts. Because, mark you, these four giant-weeds poison the roots 
of the Tree of Life. All humanity suffers pain in diverse ways, on ac¬ 
count of these four bad thoughts and their millions of off-springs. Now 
you will say this is all very well but: 

HOW? 

That is just what I mean to teach you all along. I don’t want to 
feed you on mere empty theories, but I can and I will give you that 
knowledge which when assimilated shall build up strong flesh, bone, 
muscle, tissue, pith and marrow which will give you superb health, 
strength of mind and spirit—all of which are necessary adjuncts to 
Spiritual Growth and Happiness. Let me give you in detail methods and 
exercises. The ideal fearless man has many qualities. I say the Ideal 
Hero—no imitation patch work vulgarian. These qualities are in rough 
detail: (1) Devotion to God. (2) Knowledge. (3) Concentration. 
(4) Will Power. (5) Energy and Aspiration. (6) Health. (7) Self- 
Esteem. (8) Self-Control. (9) Love for Humanity. (10) Chastity. 
There may be other qualities but you will do well to build up the above 
and others will come to you by themselves. Let me drop a few helpful 
suggestions on the above. Follow each sentence closely. 

1. DEVOTION TO THE ABSOLUTE WILL. 

I have always said, written, observed and felt that the most cour¬ 
ageous individuals are devoted to God. Such men are rare. You all 
understand the meaning of “Fearlessness” in its fullest sense. It means 
absolute independence—in two words, he is the FEARLESS man who 
“fears-nothing,” and “faces-everything.” That everything includes every¬ 
one. That nothing excludes no one. Viewed from this standpoint is not 
the fearless man rarely to be met with? You may come across degrees 
of fearlessness. Now the man who possesses this quality in the “highest 
degree” has faith in this God. Everyone has his conception of God. 
Everyone sees the absolute from his individual plane of vision. That 
conception which you have of God will do for you. I say, it will do 
for you and you alone. Don’t force it upon others. Ke'ep it for yourself. 
If you want to improve this conception of God pray in the Silence thus: 
“0, THOU, I UNDERSTAND NOT THY NATURE. I KNOW NOT 
—YET I YEARN TO KNOW. DO THOU REVEAL THYSELF 
UNTO MY SOUL. DO THOU OPEN MY SPIRITUAL EYES AND 


48 


LEAD ME ON.” Student, don’t treat this lightly. Listen not to that 
conceited or blinded brother of yours who says he does not care for God—* 
who says he can go on without the aid of God. Listen not. Listen not. 

The strongest and greatest pray often. Only they do not talk of this 
to others. They never make a show of their devotion. But they have all 
prayed and do all pray. They believe in personal effort—they also 
believe in Divine leading and guidance. Learn to be “lead by the Spirit.” 
Everything shall come to you in this way. You will also notice that the 
Fearless Man is not a mere God-fearing man. He is a God-loving Indi¬ 
vidual. He loves God for God’s sake largely. That man who is fearful 
in spite of his devotion to God is a sham devotee. But the grace of the 
LORD’S name is such that it shall purify the most impure of heart. 

It shall build up even a sham devotee into a real devotee who in time 
shall transcend all limitation. Therefore have faith in God. “Be regu¬ 
lar” in your devotions. Also remember that each trial is a pain accom¬ 
panying spiritual regeneration—each pain a process of strengthening the 
herald of a-mere glorious dawn of wisdom. Hence give up a grumbling. 

The great God whose Infinite power regulates the motions of planets 
and yet takes note of the sparrow’s fall has your soul’s best interest at 
heart. All you do, all you say, all you feel, all you hope, all your expe¬ 
riences—all, all is His will. Man’s Will is God’s Will. God’s Will is 
Man’s Will. And who can define God? God alone has the power to de¬ 
fine Himself. He has defined Himself as the Universe—Bramhanda. 
Nothing is impossible for the devotee of God. Let him but be willing to / 
work and God shall give him everything. Regular devotion to God will 
surely develop extreme Fearlessness. “God is Love.” 

(2). KNOWLEDGE ( Gnayanam ). 

Fear is due to ignorance. When in the dark of night you mistook 
the rope for a snake, you shrieked out in terror. Cause? IGNORANCE. 

But when you saw the rope as a rope, you laughed out in amusement. 
Cause? KNOWLEDGE. All your fear is due to your ignorance of your 
real nature. All the fear at the last is fear of death. You have to realise 
through knowledge of the Vedanta that you are birthless, deathless. You 
have to unfold by meditation a consciousness of your Real Self. I give 
you hereunder a meditation exercise that will help you in this direction. 

MEDITATION EXERCISE NO. 1. 

Retire into the SILENCE. Shut off all thoughts and purposes re¬ 
lating to the external world. Try to realise that you, the Real Ego are not 
the body but that it is a mere garment you have put on for functioning 
on the physical plane and which you shall put off some day. Try to 


49 


realise that you are immortal and that although a thousand bodies might 
come and go, you, the Ego, shall be as alive as ever. These are your 
shadows—your personalities. What dies and is born is a mirage—a 
mere phantasm—which you materialise for certain purposes. All these 
purposes centralise in one POTENTIALISED PURPOSE—the conquest 
of matter. Realise that you the Ego, have your dwelling in Supernal 
Regions—on the spiritual plane—with your Father-in-Heaven—but that 
you have come down into matter that you may find the fullest possible 
objective expression. Realise that you, the Ego, are a differentiated 
centre of consciousness in the Great Consciousness—THE ABSOLUTE 
—EGO—SUM of the entire Universe with all its gross and subtle mani¬ 
festations—that you are endowed with all the powers and attributes of 
the Absolute Self. Realise that you are not the emotional and passional 
manifestations—surging up in your personality. These are subject to 
the law of Flux and Rhythm and must be brought under the control of 
Reason and Will—the balancing, equating principle of mind. Realise 
that you are not the mind nor the intellect, but that you exercise this 
function in order to analyse the external manifestations of nature and 
study same. Realise that you are pure Consciousness, Bliss and Exist¬ 
ence in your essential nature—on with the all-life. Realise that the form 
side of manifestation is but a concentration, a precipitation within you. 
Your subjective nature is one with the subjective self of others—an 
inlet for the influx and efflux of the GREAT SUB-CONSCIOUS. Realise 
thus your Unity with All-Life-manifesting objectively as Universal 
Brotherhood of all living beings and the perfect recognition of the All- 
Father-Mother, the Great Cosmic Power and Intelligence known as God 
whose intelligence all-blissfulness and existence are ever pouring into 
each Unit of Individualised Divine Energy and evolving through nature. 
And, student, when you meditate daily that you are neither the body 
nor the emotions nor the mind, you shall then unfold the consciousness of 
the “I am I” that which rules the personality that which has been called 
Soul-Consciousness. You shall then be Chaitanya-Spiritually awake. 
You shall then know no Fear. Fear shall drop away like a worn-out 
sheath. All fear-thoughts are due to undeveloped race-consciousness 
which reacts upon individual consciousness and is stamped more or less 
upon every atom of matter. You ‘fear’ because you think you are the 
body. When you realise that you can command as many bodies for your 
use as you like; when you realise in your heart of hearts that you are a 
Spiritual Being expressing and energising through material personalities; 
when you realise that you cannot die, fear shall be afraid of you and drop 
tormenting and teasing you. Fear resides in the matter-fed mind—that 
mind which has been grown and matured by the reception and re-action 


50 


upon external sensations and stimuli—what has been called the objec¬ 
tive mind. This mind identifies itself with the form, the body. It has 
an incorrigible determination towards the form-side, the concrete-side 
of existence. It sees nothing but the body and is darkened by the forces 
of Maya. It sees nothing but separation. Yes, it is the matter-fed mind. 
People with a development of this side of consciousness are invariably 
selfish; have generally small, conical eyes, understand nothing, but the 
welfare of the body. They are subject to the fear and the delight in mak¬ 
ing others fear them. This mind needs illumination from the soul, the 
Subjective Man, the “I am I” side of consciousness. It is not that you 
are a body and have a soul—this is the dirty conviction of the matter- 
fed mind—but you are a soul and have a body. The dawn of Soul-Con¬ 
sciousness makes a man a Force for good. He himself is Fearless. His 
is the voice of strength that does not crush and dominate but that puts 
warmth, life, energy, hope and indomitable courage into cold and de¬ 
spairing hearts. Some are born with this Soul-Consciousness. Do not 
think that I am feeding with the theories of eccentricity. Often when a 
boy playing with others the thought would strike me hard, “Are you the 
same that is running and jumping and shouting.” I would stop, looking 
blankly ahead. A feeling of confusion would come over me and I would 
forget everything. I could recall the feeling distinctly and vividly. Now 
I understand. These were flashes of Soul-Consciousness unfolded in a 
past life and struggling for “recognition” in this life. Such men face 
DEATH for themselves calmly. They know they can’t die. Such men 
are incapable of sustained hatred. They too have their physiognomical 
signs and distinctions. They represent an advanced order of intellect. 
And, lastly, when the full blaze of realisation comes, your one object in 
life shall be to bestow your sense of freedom on others. You shall 
not be able to mock and smile calmly at the pain, the ignorance to imper¬ 
fections of your brother-man. You shall realise what it is to ‘feel’ for 
humanity, yea, even for animals. You shall glimpse, in some measures, 
the great feeling of pain that rent the hearts of the Buddas, the Christs, 
the Ramakrishnas, the Vivekanandas of this world. They suffered, they 
felt for humanity. And when undeveloped humanity forced them to the 
Cross; they bore it in the same spirit in which the gentle nurse bears the 
blows and abuses of the disease-racked patient. “Father forgive them, 
for they know not what they do.” Verily to know all is to forgive all. 
This Soul-Consciousness is as much yours as that of anyone. It comes 
through meditation on the Infinite, and the Formless Absolute—the 
Over-soul of the universe—the Brahman of the Vedanta—the Self of the 
philosophers—the Atman of the Yogis—the personal—impersonal God 
of the devotee—and, last, but not least, the humanity of the humanitarian. 


51 



CONCENTRATION. 


The mind can think of one thing only. Fear is an acute form of 
negative concentration—worry its chronic form. If you learn how to 
place your mind upon a particular subject and inhibit or “shut off” all 
other thoughts, the fascination of fear and worry shall have no power 
over you. Most of the things you fear never happen—others can be 
routed by a bold front. Even if something ugly does befall you, you have 
the power within to enable you to ‘bear up’ heroically. Fear is a mere 
negative thought-habit. It is a negative tendency in the mind. You can 
best eradicate this weed from your mind by cultivating the positive atti¬ 
tude of Courage. There are particular sets of brain-cells being created 
or destroyed by particular types of thoughts. The best way to destroy 
negative brain-cells is to develop positive brain-cells. If you want to 
Kill off Fear-thoughts, do not fight them. That would be like trying to 
realise how dark a place is and then starting to pitch it out by the 
handful. You know you cannot do it. Just open the blinds and let in 
sunshine and the place will be flooded with light. The mind hypnotised 
by negative thoughts has been compared by a mental scientist to a dirty 
wash-bowl full of dirty water. Take the wash-bowl near a tap and turn 
the tap on. The steady pour of clean water will soon wash off all the 
dirty water and fill the wash-bowl with clear water. So the only way 
to root out and destroy evil thoughts is to turn a steady stream of positive 
thoughts to overcome all fear thoughts, you should think courage- 
thoughts. Don’t crawl on your belly; don’t call upon Heaven to witness 
that despicable creature you are. No—a thousand times—no. Act 
Courage. Think Courage. Say Courage. That’s the way. Turn your 
face towards the rising sun. Take “Courage” for your watchword. Af¬ 
firm it as far as you can. Fasten it deep and strong in your mind. 
Always tell yourself that you are full of courage, morning, noon and 
night; never tell yourself that you are weak. 

Now, in order to inhibit fear-thoughts and exhibit Courage-thoughts, 
you must possess CONCENTRATION. You should be able to take 
your mind off a certain subject and put it on something else at your will. 
Do you know what Concentration means? Let me give you in my own 
words something I remember reading about Napoleon. When banished 
to St. Helena and suffering from disease, one day his doctor expressed 
his curiosity as to the secret of his success and astonishing power. Na¬ 
poleon replied “Doctor, there are drawers in my brain. When I want to 
think of politics I pull out the drawer of politics, when I want to think 
of Josephine, I pull out the drawer of Law, and so on; and when I shut 
all these drawers, I can go to sleep.” The doctor smiled incredulity 


52 


blandly. “Doctor, I can show you this minute. Doctor, I shut all draw¬ 
ers”—even while saying this, Napoleon fell with a thud on his pillow. 
He was fast asleep. The man of science and medicine examined him in 
all ways, but Napoleon had fallen actually fast asleep. This is Concen¬ 
tration and Mind-Control. I don’t admire men of Napoleon’s selfish types. 
Their place is in dark hell. They use their power for preying upon others. 
But that his powers of mind were great, I don’t deny. Napoleon in his 
past life had been a great Yogi, but the remnants of self and cumulative 
force of bad Karma precipitated the bloody results you all know in con¬ 
nection with Napoleon’s career. No doubt, this man was only a means 
used by God to bring about certain changes and revolutions. 

To develop Concentration, pay attention to the daily work of your 
life. Don’t neglect small things. Put interest and attention into what¬ 
ever you think, say, or do. Be a wide-awake man. Don’t go about 
your work half-asleep. Wake up and display a few signs of life. Be 
progressive. Think much and to the purpose. 

WILL-POWER. 

You all understand this. It is that aspect of your make-up that 
enables you to make your mind and body obey you. The true principle 
of Will is closely interlocked with the “I am I”as I have already ex¬ 
plained it. Resolve at the start to do one thing once in 24 hours that 
you would do if you were not afraid. Face fear and it is your slave. 
Your Will-power enables you to prove things practically to yourself and 
to the world; to make actions match-thoughts. Give your Will much 
exercise in the right direction. Without Will a man is no better than 
a log of wood. Keep your Will strong by auto-suggestion and exercise. 
Try the powers of your Will on your personality till you can do anything 
and be anything. Say “I can and I will” in a thousand different ways 
and prove it too. The requisite qualities that form valuable adjuncts to 
Will-power are: 1. Determination. 2. Stick-to-it-ive-ness. 3. Perse¬ 
verance. 4. Invincible and indomitable courage. 5. Non-attachment. 
6. Faith in yourself. 7. Faith in God. 8. I can and I will. Repeat this 
affirmation often till it becomes a constant mental trait. 

AFFIRMATIONS. 

1. I am fearless. I am full of courage. There is nothing to fear. 
I say courage, I think, I act courage. 

2. Courage is my distinct and leading trait. Everyone knows me 
as a man of Indomitable courage. The criticisms and opinions of others 
cannot affect me the least. 


53 


3. I am part of the Divine Self. I harm none. My nature knows 
no harm. Hence no harm comes to me. 

4. I am equal to anything. Nothing can crush my spirit. I can 
face everything. I can face everybody. 

5. My powers of resistance are strong, strong, strong. I use them 
never for the aggression of others. They are for my self-defence. 

6. Iam absolutely fearless morally and physically. 

7. I stand for absolute truthfulness and justice and manifest them 
in myself. 

8. Work with this affirmation. Strongly implant it in your mind. 
The use of strong, positive Affirmation in the Silence is valuable in that it 
gives you a firm hold of your thought so that you can “carry the thought” 
mentally. The value of expressing thought in act and speech lies in this 
that it clinches your thought into a permanent habit. Remember this 
psychologic axiom: 1. Thoughts take form in action. 2. Action in¬ 
duces thought and corresponding habits. Therefore act out the part 
physically. If you want a courageous mind—“act out” the part physi¬ 
cally, in your daily life, on suitable occasions, in all earnestness as you 
would in a theatre or drama. In a very short time it shall become a con¬ 
firmed habit. Force yourself to it. Take an interest in what you do and 
say. Have confident expectations of SUCCESS. Never be daunted and 
cowed down by initial difficulties and failures. Never say die. If you 
go down—don’t remain lying and moaning. Never, I say, never. Get 
up. Shake yourself up free and say, like the royal lion “Come one, come 
all, this rock shall fly sooner from its base than I.” Have a will of your 
own and be a force for good. Exercise your Will-power. Be something. 
Do something. 


LOVE FOR HUMANITY, ENERGY, 

ASPIRATION, SELF-ESTEEM. 

I cannot too strongly emphasise the difference between Self-Esteem 
and Self-Conceit. I wish to drive and thoroughly pound this difference 
into your brain. Self-Esteem is decidedly a manly trait. It is based 
upon a conviction of the Kingship of God and the Sonship of Man. Man 
is a dignified being with divine attributes. He should not disgrace his 
Maker by crawling on the ground. This is Self-Esteem. Self-Esteem 
does not lower itself. It never lowers others. You shall never see a 
leader of mankind without tremendous faith in himself. But equally truly 
you shall never see a true man or woman taking delight in having others 
crawl to dust before them. They feel pained and shocked at such a sight. 
There is infinite humiliation to them in this sorry spectacle. But Self- 
Conceit is that original obliquity that leads a man to make a hog of him- 


54 


self. It is the old, dirty, unmanly “I-am-greater-than-you” feeling. Such 
men are hogs, hogs, hogs. They are not the true sons of their mothers. 
They are bastards and imbeciles. If you come across this type and get 
a chance to deal with him on your private strength open his eyes to his 
hoggishness. If he has any manly stuff in himself, he shall reform. If 
not, let him sizzle in his fat. Nature and its rigorous Laws will rub the 
lesson home some day. But don’t you stand their nonsense for want 
of moral backbone. And the “I am” in you shall revolt against any such 
meanness and smallness in yourself. Encourage it not. Revere God. 
Revere yourself. Revere others. Next, as to energy and aspiration— 
these two characteristics transmute your mind from a negative into a 
positive type. They give you an aura of thought-force such as never 
knows fear. In point of fact fear is starved off to death. Be progressive. 
Take an interest in the affairs of this world and be a force for good. 
Raise yourself first. Then give others a lift. Have an Increasing Pur¬ 
pose in your life. Work towards its accomplishment. The man who 
renounces the world does not become a burden unto others. He helps 
others to shoulder their responsibilities. Nature aids at building up 
strong individuals. It has no use for barnacles and is always scraping 
them off. Nature does not tolerate leeches, vampires and parasites. 
Aspire to do something great in life “for the good of many, for the hap¬ 
piness of many.” Live to some purpose. When you have a positive 
life-purpose, your tone of mind shall be dominant and positive and your 
thoughts shall match. All-strength shall come to you. Bad health, fear, 
worry and the whole array of disintegrating forces are set into active 
motion by a purposeless life. The Purposeful Man has no time to bother 
about them. Understand clearly, spirituality is not laziness, whatever 
else it may be. 


AFFIRMATIONS. 

1. I have perfect Self-Confidence. I am a Divine Being. I lower 
not myself—I lower not others. 

2. My Life-Purpose is Constructive—not Destructive. 

3. I will be great spiritually and mentally. I will make others 
great. I am an irresistable force for good. 

4. I live to some great purpose. I am an Individual. I recognise 
the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man. 

HEALTH, CHASTITY AND SELF-CONTROL. 

Chastity and Self-Control bring to you a clean healthy physique. 
Strong health means strong brain. And strong brain means abounding 
vitality, magnetism and ambition. Remember our aim is the develop- 


55 


ment of courage. The Chaste brain has tremendous energy. You should 
observe Bramhacharya—the conservation of vital energy in the body. 
You should acquire control over your passions and appetites. The en¬ 
ergy generated in your body should not be drawn off at the lower end 
of your being, but should be transmuted into creative activity mentally 
and spiritually. Get a clean body, first. You can get it by fasting, 
breathing and exercise. 

FASTING AND SELF-CONTROL. 

If you feel heavy in body and brain, if you feel mentally sluggish it 
is a sure indication that your system is “clogged” with waste matter, due 
to partial or total inactivity of the physical channels of elimination. You 
have been indulging in high living and gluttony or you have been indulg¬ 
ing in physical gratifications and have thus exhausted the vital fibres of 
your body. Perhaps you have drunk very little water which is nature’s 
demand for cleaning the vessels of the body. Perhaps you have exercised 
little and thus the supply of oxygen required for burning off carbon and 
energising the blood has been rather limited. Mental depression, ‘weak 
nerves,’ melancholy, despair, fear, lack of concentration and lots of other 
mental weakness are due to a clogging of the system with accumulated 
refuse. In brief, the following are a few of the benefits derivable from 
scientific fasting:—(1) It gives nature a chance to “Clean Up.” The 
day of fasting is a day of physical “house cleaning.” (2) Like the gal¬ 
vanic battery the body “recuperates” its energies. Strength is invari¬ 
ably rested to one’s powers of digestion after a careful fast. No case of 
dyspepsia, constipation, etc., there is, but can benefit or be totally and 
radically cured by fasting. Fasting will increase powers of assimilation, 
quicken hunger, purify and strengthen the nerves and raise your health 
in all ways. (3) By gaining control over appetite you gain control over 
your lower nature. It is a splendid drill for your Will. You shall gain 
in spiritual strength. You shall grow positive to your flesh and its crav¬ 
ings. Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days in order to prepare himself to 
face his great trial and temptation. Our Yogis are all great fasters. 

HOW TO FAST. 

Don’t undertake too much. If you have never observed a fast begin 
with a 24 hour fast. Drink at least 5, if possible, 8 tumblers of pure 
water at frequent intervals slowly. Keep yourself gently active and oc¬ 
cupied the whole day, mentally and physically. You may feel a feeling 
of faintness, all-goneness and an irresistible craving for food. These are 
mischievous pranks of a cultivated and pampered and artificial appetite. 


56 


Drink water slowly but don’t give your body anything else. Always 
keep before yourself the distinction between the regal “I—am—I” the 
soul and the carnal, sensating animal known as the body. The great 
point of achievement during a fast lies in thinking high thoughts and 
forgetting the demands of the flesh. Don’t think of your fast. If you 
do think say to yourself “this is to develop my will.” Breathe plenty of 
fresh air. Exercise gently and walk. I have seen educated men afraid to 
go out for a walk during a day’s religious fast “lest they should feel 
hungry.” O shame! You can’t control a little hunger! You should 
bathe daily thoroughly early in the morning, fast or no fast. 

And don’t be afraid. “Man liveth not by bread alone but by very 
word that proceeds from the mouth of God”—said Christ. Starvation 
may kill off your body but not fasting. Deny the power of all disease 
and weakness over yourself. Your mind is master of your body. Assert 
this mental control. Lastly, during a fast, your body is sensitive to 
your suggestions. Fill your mind with incessant affirmations of cour¬ 
age. Think courage, say courage, act courage. Take time by the fore¬ 
lock. Force your suggestions upon body and brain right now. 

HOW TO BREAK A FAST. 

When breaking a fast, be sure to control re-action. Eat very lightly 
and only sensible food. Now that you have a clean body, stay clean. 
You can train yourself to fast for 40 days at a stretch. 

TRANSMUTING SEX-ENERGY. 

Here is some sensible advice from a leading thinker and teacher: 
“To be a perfect Bramhacharin (a regenerate). 

1. You must have a clean, healthy body; 2. Good breathing 
capacity and some control over same; 3. A strong will such as can move 
body and mind; 4. Assiduous cultivation of the intellectual side; 
5. Control over emotions; 6. A fearless mind; 7. Great determina¬ 
tion; 8. and abstemious living and high thinking. 

The Yogis possess great knowledge regarding the use and abuse of 
the reproductive principle in both sexes. Some hints of this esoteric 
knowledge have filtered out and have been used by Western writers on 
the subject, and much good has been accomplished in this way. In this 
little book we cannot do more than touch upon the subject, and omitting 
all except a bare mention of theory, we will give a practical breathing 
exercise whereby the student will be enabled to transmute the re-produc¬ 
tive energy into vitality for the entire system, instead of dissipating and 
wasting it in lustful indulgence in or out of the marriage relations. The 
reproductive energy is creative energy, and may be taken up by the 


57 


system and transmuted into strength and vitality, thus serving the pur¬ 
pose of regeneration instead of generation. If the young men of the 
Western world understood these underlying principles they would be 
saved much misery and unhappiness in after years, and would be stronger 
mentally, morally and physically. 

This transmutation of the reproductive energy gives more vitality to 
those practising it. They will be filled with great vital force, which will 
radiate from them and will manifest in what has been called “personal 
magnetism.” The energy thus transmuted may be turned into new chan¬ 
nels and used to great advantage. Nature has condensed one of its most 
powerful manifestations of prana into productive energy, as its purpose is 
to create. The greatest amount of vital force is concentrated in the 
smallest area. The re-productive organism is the most powerful storage 
factory in animal life, and its force can be drawn upward and used, as 
well as expended in the ordinary functions of reproduction, or wasted in 
vicious lust. The majority of our students know something of the theo¬ 
ries of regeneration, and we can do little more than to state the above 
facts, without attempting to prove them. 

The Yogi exercise for transmuting re-productive energy is simple. 
It is coupled with rhythmic breathing, and can be easily performed. It 
may be practised at any time, but is especially recommended when one 
feels the instinct more strongly, at which time the re-productive energy 
is manifesting and may be most easily transmuted for regenerative pur¬ 
pose. The exercise is as follows:— 

Keep the mind fixed on the idea of energy, and away from ordinary 
sexual thoughts and imaginings. If these thoughts come into the mind 
do not be discouraged, but regard them as manifestations of a force which 
you intend using for the purpose of strengthening the body and mind. 
Lie passively or sit erect, and fix your mind on the idea of drawing the 
re-productive energy upward to the Solar Plexus, where it will be trans¬ 
muted and stored away as a reserve force of vital energy. Then breathe 
rhythmically, forming the mental image of drawing up the re-productive 
energy with each inhalation. With each inhalation make a command of 
the Will that the energy be drawn upward from the re-productive or¬ 
ganisation to the Solar Plexus. If the rhythm is fairly established and 
the mental image is clear, you will be conscious of the upward passage 
of the energy, and will feel its stimulating effect. If you desire an increase 
in mental force, you may draw it up to the brain instead of to the Solar 
Plexus, by giving the mental command and holding the mental image of 
the transmission to the brain. 

The man or woman doing mental creative work, or bodily creative 
work will be able to use this creative energy in their work by following 


58 


the above exercise, drawing up the energy with the inhalation and send¬ 
ing it forth with the exhalation. In this last form of exercise only such 
portions as are needed in the work will pass into the work being done, 
the balance remaining stored up in the Solar Plexus. 

You will understand, of course, that it is not the reproductive fluids 
which are drawn up and used, but the etheric prana energy which ani¬ 
mates the latter, the soul of the reproductive organism, as it were. It 
is usual to allow the head to bend forward easily and naturally during the 
transmuting exercise. 

Practise this Breathing Exercise sturdily. Be heroic. Learn to 
make 100 Pranayams at a sitting, but do not rush things. Deep breathing 
exercise, Will-Culture, regular Meditation and a clean normal mode of 
living when combined with much thinking will surely awaken your Lat¬ 
ent Powers. Be not worried if progress be a bit slow at first. Keep up 
cheerful and work patiently. Things cannot but come your way if you 
don’t give up but preserve to the last. Have infinite and unbounded 
faith in yourself. And, lastly, if you want to grow space in Wisdom and 
Power, persevere in deep breathing. Pranayam is the key to all spiritual 
success. “Spirituality is fullness of Breath.” Almost all forms or Mental 
and physical weakness are due to imperfect and shallow breathing. Of 
all these instructions you practise nothing but the Breathing Exercise, 
your gain shall be great but in order to get all the results you must prac¬ 
tise all the instructions regularly and methodically. 

Your sex-force is under the direction of your sub-conscious mind 
which is quite amenable to your authoritative suggestions. Get control 
through your sub-consciousness. All you have to do is to let it to do its 
own work without adverse and negative suggestions and fear-thoughts. 
Say “No” vigorously to all adverse thoughts and shake them off from 
you. All health comes by letting nature alone. 

BREATHING EXERCISE. 

Find a quiet place as far as possible, where the air is pure and the 
surroundings soothing and pleasant. After a bath or a thorough rubbing 
of the body from top to toe, with a wet towel, on an empty stomach, take 
this exercise: Send a current of holy thought to everyone, on planes 
seen and unseen, north and south, east and west, engage in meditation— 
take anyone of the meditation exercises you like. When you are per¬ 
fectly calm and relaxed, seat yourself cross-legged, assuming any posture 
that comes easiest to you, with head, neck and chest held in a straight 
line and the weight of the upper parts of the body resting on ribs. Keep 
the region about the waist quite free. Loosen the cloth there out and 
out. Now inhale air slowly and steadily through right nostril after clos- 


59 


ing left nostril with your finger as long as it takes to count sixteen men¬ 
tally. Close both nostrils, holding the inspired air within and count 
sixty-four. Then very slowly exhale the air through the left nostril for 
as long as it takes to count thirty-two. You must begin with a 4 second 
inhalation, 16 second retention and 8 second exhalation. Instead of dry 
counting you might improve yourself decidedly by repeating the word 
“Fearless” as many times holding mentally that dominant idea back of 
the word. Practise 5 pranayamas mornings and evenings for one week 
daily. Increase to 10 next week. Work up to 20. Go slowly. Practise 
as long as you like, but not less than 6 months. Be serious and earnest. 
This is not for non-serious minds. This exercise will augment digestive 
power, steady heart-action, make the body light and the mind calm. It 
shall help also miraculously in your Soul-Unfoldment. During this prac¬ 
tice be pure in all ways. Observe Bramhacharya. Practice mental con¬ 
centration and spiritual meditation. Don’t talk much with others. Don’t 
encourage any but holy society. Don’t sleep much. Don’t work very 
hard. Keep your emotions well-in-hand. Be always engaged mentally 
and physically. Be hopeful and cheerful. Never encourage negative 
thinking. It shall do wonders for you. 

PHYSICAL EXERCISE. 

Exercise No. 1. 

Stand straight, facing a corner of the room with bare feet about 14 
or 15 inches from the'corner itself, arms straight out, even with shoul¬ 
ders or perhaps two inches below, hands resting on the two-side walls, 
chest out, abdomen in. Now lean forward towards the corner, without 
moving the feet or bending the knees. Aim lightly to touch the corner 
with the chest, while holding the head and abdomen as far back from the 
corner as possible, arms and hands slipping forward on the walls in a 
straight line with shoulders. Resume first position without moving the 
feet or lowering the arms, and repeat. Make the forward movement 
slowly, at the same time inhaling through nostrils a slow, full breath; 
put your whole effort into stretching the chest forward and upward (care¬ 
ful not to bruise yourself against wall) and head and abdomen back¬ 
ward, thus straightening the back at the shoulders. Hold the chest to the 
corner a moment, holding the breath likewise, then slowly resume original 
upright position, slowly exhaling through slightly open lips at the same 
time bending the head forward towards the chest. As you lean forward 
toward the corner, mentally keep count of your exercise one, two, three, 
etc. As you resume the upright position, exhaling and bending the head 
forward mentally, affirm “I am fearless, pure, strong.” Make these 


60 


movements always slowly, deliberately, with the closest attention. Begin 
with 5 or 6 movements and raise to 20 at a time. 

Exercise No. 2. 

Stand straight about two feet from the wall. Place the palms on 
the wall-level with the shoulders. Without moving the feet or bending 
the body, lean forward slowly, inhaling slowly as you do so, until the 
chest touches the wall, head back; then push yourself slowly to an up¬ 
right position slowly exhaling as you do so. Repeat 10 times or more. 

Exercise No. 3. 

Clasp the hands behind. As you slowly inhale extend the clasped 
hand slowly downwards as far as possible, straightening arms at elbow 
and lowering shoulders as much as possible, at the same time extending 
and lifting the chest as far as you can. Hold the breath and the position 
a moment only, shoulders down, chest out and up, abdomen in, then 
release the hand and slowly exhale. A rather vigorous exercise. So go 
slowly. 


Exercise No. 4. 

Stand straight, arms extended even with the shoulders, head up; 
tense muscles of right arm doubling slowly at elbow and hand only, until 
the clenched fist touches the shoulders; at the same time tensing the 
neck muscles, chin up, and turning the head slowly to face the clenched 
fist. Repeat with the left arm. The arms from shoulder to elbow must 
be kept in a horizontal position. 

Exercise No. 5. 

Stand straight, hands at sides. Bend as far over to the right as pos¬ 
sible, slowly; then to the left as far as possible. Repeat 10 times. 

Exercise No. 6. 

Stand straight, arms at sides. Lean as far forward as you can with¬ 
out bending the knees and roll the body clear around in a circle to the 
right, arms and body as limp as possible. Repeat 5 times. Then roll 
five times to the left. 


Exercise No. 7. 

Stand straight. Extend arms easily in front. Wave them back¬ 
wards and upwards in a sort of reversed swimming movement, until they 
meet overhead; at the same time bending backward as far as possible 


61 


slowly inhale a full breath. Now bend forward, exhaling breath, taking 
care not to bend the knees, until your fingers touch your toes, head 
hanging as low as possible, toes and head as limp as possible, fingers 
reaching towards the floor. Repeat upright position. Keep the knees 
straight throughout. Aim to stretch the entire body and hands upward 
and backward as far as possible, with the upward motion of the arms. 
If you can’t touch the floor without bending the knees, just come as 
near it as you can. Practice will limber you up until you can touch it. 

Exercise No. 8. 

Lie full length on the back of the floor, hands clasped under head. 
Tense the muscles of the right leg, raising the knee slowly until it 
touches or almost touches the body, at the same time bending the foot 
downward as far as possible, stretching the toes towards the floor. Now 
slowly lower the right leg, still tense, towards the floor, straightening 
the knee and turning the toe upward towards the body. As the right 
leg is being lowered, raise the left one upward in the same way tensing 
the muscles, knee to chest, toes stretching upward; as the left leg goes 
down, point the toes and foot toward the knee 5 times, increasing grad¬ 
ually to 10 times. 


PHYSICAL EXERCISES. 

Series 2. 

Exercise I. 

(1) Extend the arms straight out in front of you, on the level of 
the shoulder, with palms of the hand touching each other; (2) swing 
back the hands until the arms stand out straight, sideways, from the 
shoulders or even a little further back if they will go there easily without 
forcing; return briskly to position 1, and repeat several times. The arms 
should be swung with a rapid movement and with animation and life. 
Do not go to sleep over the work or rather play. This exercise is most 
useful in developing the chest, muscles of the shoulders, etc. In swing¬ 
ing the hands backward, it is an improvement if you will rise on your toe 
during the backward sweep; sinking on your heels as you move the arms 
forward again. The repeated movements should be rhythmical, back¬ 
ward and forward, like the swinging of a quick pendulum. 

Exercise II. 

(1) Extend the arms straight in front of you, letting the little 
fingers of each hand touch each other, the palms being upward; (2) then 
keeping the little fingers still touching, bring the hands straight up in a 


62 


curved circular movement, until the tips of the fingers of both hands 
touch the top’ of the head back of the forehead, the backs of the fingers 
touching, the elbows swinging out as the movement is made until (when 
the fingers touch the head, with thumbs pointing the rear) they point 
out straight sideways; (3) let the fingers rest on the top of the head a 
moment, and then with the elbows pressing back (which forces the 
shoulders back) force the arms backward with an oblique motion until 
they reach the sides at full length, as in the standing position. 

Exercise III. 

(1) Extend the arms straight out, sideways, from the shoulders; 
(2) then, still keeping the upper arms extended in same position, bend 
the arms at the elbow and bring the forearm upward with a circular 
movement, until the tips of the extended fingers lightly touch the tops of 
the shoulders; (3) then with fingers in the last position, force the elbows 
out to the front until they touch, or nearly go (a little practice will enable 
you to touch them together); (4) then, keeping the fingers still lightly 
touching the tops of the shoulders, swinging the elbows as far back as 
you can get them. (A little practice will enable you to get them much 
farther back than at the first attempt.) (5) Swing the elbows to the 
front position and then back to the rear position, several times. 

Exercise IV. 

(1) Place the hands on the hips, thumbs to the rear, and elbows 
pressed back; (2) bend the body forward, from the hips as far as you 
can, keeping the chest protruding and the shoulders pressed back; (3) 
raise the body to the original standing position (hands still at the hips) 
and then bend backward. In these movements the knees should not be 
bent and the motions should be made slowly and gently; (4) then (hands 
still on the hips) bend gently to the right, keeping the heels firmly on 
the ground, knees unbent and avoid twisting the body; (5) resume orig¬ 
inal position, and then bend the body gently to the left, observing the 
precautions given in the last movement. This exercise is somewhat fa¬ 
tiguing and you should be careful not to overdo it at the start. Proceed 
gradually; (6) with hands in same position on the hips, swing the upper 
part of the body around in a circle, from the waist-up, the head describ¬ 
ing the largest circle, of course. Do not move the feet or bend the knees. 

Exercise V. 

(1) Standing erect, with hands on hips, raise yourself on the balls 
of the feet several times, with sort of a springing motion. Pause a mo¬ 
ment after you have raised upon your toes, then let the heels sink to the 


63 


floor, then repeat, as above suggested. Keep the knees unbent and the 
heels together. This exercise is specially beneficial in developing the calf 
of the leg, and will make it sure the first few times it is tried. If you 
have an undeveloped calf here is the exercises for you; (2) with hands 
still on hips place your feet about two feet apart, and then cover the body 
into a “squatting” position, pausing a moment and then resuming original 
position. Repeat several times, but not too often at the first, as it will 
make the thighs feel a little sore at the beginning. This exercise will give 
one well developed thighs. This last movement may be improved upon by 
sinking down with the weight resting upon the balls of the foot, instead 
of upon the heel. 


Exercise VI. 

(1) Stand erect with hands on hips; (2) keeping the knee straight, 
swing the right leg out about fifteen inches (keeping the toe turned a 
little out and the sole flat)—then swing back to the rear until the toe 
points straight to the ground, keeping the knee stiff all the time; (3) 
repeat the swinging backward and forward several times; (4) then do 
the same with the left leg; (5) with hands still on hips, raise the right 
leg up, bending the knee, until the upper-leg (thigh) stands straight out 
from the body (if you can raise it still higher, you may do so); (6) 
place your foot again on the ground, and go through the same motion 
with the left leg; (7) repeat several times, first one leg and then the 
other, moving slowly at first and gradually increasing your speed until 
you are executing a slow trot without moving from the over spot. 

Exercise VII. 

(1) Stand erect, with the arms extended straight in front of you, 
from the shoulders, and of course on a level with the shoulders—the 
palms must be down, fingers straight out, thumbs folded under and the 
thumb side of hands touching each other; (2) bend the body forward 
from the hips, stooping forward as far as possible and at the same time 
swing the arms forward with a sweeping movement, sending them down, 
backward and upward at the back, so that when the body has reached 
the limit of the bending forward movement the arms are extended back 
and over the body—keep the arms stiff and do not bend the knees; (3) 
resume standing position and repeat several times. 

Exercise VIII. 

(1) Extend the arms straight, sideways, from the shoulder and hold 
them there stiff and rigid with hands open; (2) close the hands forcibly 
with a quick motion, pressing the fingers well into the palm; (3) open 


64 




the hands forcibly and quickly, spreading out the fingers and thumbs 
as widely as possible forming a fan shaped hand; (4) close and open 
the hands as above stated, several times, as rapidly as possible. Put life 
into the exercise. This is a splendid exercise for developing the muscles 
of the hand and for acquiring manual dexterity. 

Exercise IX. 

(1) Lie upon your stomach, extending your arms above your head 
and then bowed upward and your legs stretched out full length and 
raised backward and upward. The correct position may be carried in 
the mind by imagining a watch—crystal or a saucer resting on the table 
on its middle, with both ends turning upward; (2) lower and raise the 
arms and legs, several times; (3) then turn over on your back and lie 
extended at full length, with arms extended straight out upwards over the 
head, with back of fingers touching the ground; (4) then raise up both 
legs from the waist until they stand straight up in the air, like the mast 
of a ship, your upper-body and arms remaining in the last position named. 
Lower the legs and raise them several times; (5) resume position 3, lying 
flat upon the back at full with arms extended straight out upward, over 
the head, with backs of fingers touching the ground; (6) then gradually 
raise body to sitting position, with arms projecting straight in front of 
the shoulders. Then go back gradually to the lying down position, and 
repeat the raising and lowering several times; (7) then turn over on the 
face and stomach again and assume the following position:—Keeping 
the body rigid from head to foot, raise your body until its weight rests 
upon your palms (the arms being stretched out straight in front of you) 
at one end, and upon your toes at the other end. Then gradually bend 
arms at the elbow, allowing your chest to sink to the floor; then raise up 
your chest and upper-body by straightening out your arms, the entire 
weight falling upon the arms, with the toes as a pivot—this last is a 
difficult motion, and should not be overdone at first. 

Exercise X. 

This exercise is for those troubled with a too large abdomen, which 
trouble is caused by too much fat gathering there. The abdomen may 
be materially reduced by a reasonable indulgence in this exercise—but 
always remember “moderation in all things” and do not overdo matters, 
or be in too much of a hurry. Here is the exercise : (1) exhale the breath 
(breathe out all the air in the lungs, without straining yourself too much) 
and then draw the abdomen in and up as far as you can, then hold for a 
moment and let it resume its natural position. Repeat a number of times 
and then take a breath or two and rest a moment. Repeat several times, 


65 


moving it in and out. It is surprising how much control one may gain 
over these stubborn muscles with a little practice. This exercise will 
not only reduce the fatty layers over the abdomen, but will also greatly 
strengthen the stomach muscles. (2) Give the abdomen a good but not 
rough kneading and rubbing. 

Exercise XI. 

The exercise is as follows:—Follow it carefully. (1) stand erect, 
with heels together, toes slightly pointed outward; (2) raise the arms up 
by the sides (with a circular movement) until the hands meet over the 
head, thumbs touching each other; (3) keeping the knees stiff; the body 
rigid; the elbows unbent; (and shoulders bent well back as the movement 
is made); bring down the hands, slowly, with a sideway circular motion, 
until they reach the sides of the legs the little finger and the inner-edge 
(the “chopping-edge”) of the hand alone touching the legs, and palms of 
the hands facing straight to the front. The shoulder gets the right posi¬ 
tion by touching the little finger of each hand to the seam of the trousers. 
(4) Repeat several times, slowly remember. With the hands in the last 
position, having been placed there by the motion stated, it is very diffi¬ 
cult for the shoulders to warp forward. The chest is projected a little; 
the head is erect; neck is straight, the back straight and hollowed a little 
(the natural position); and the knees are straight. In short, you have a 
fine, erect carriage —now keep it. 

SEVEN MINOR BREATHING EXERCISES. 

Exercise I. 

(1) Stand erect with hands at sides. (2) Inhale complete breath. 
(3) Raise the arms slowly, keeping them rigid until the hands touch over 
head. (4) Retain the breath a few minutes with hands over head. (5) 
Lower hands slowly to sides exhaling slowly at the same time. (6) 
Practise cleansing breath. 

Exercise II. 

(1) Stand erect with arms straight in front of you. (2) Inhale 
complete breath and retain. (3) Swing arms back as far as they will go; 
then back to first position; then repeat several times, retaining the breath 
all the while. (4) Exhale vigorously through mouth. (5) Practise 
cleansing breath. 

Exercise III. 

(1) Stand erect with arms straight in front of you. (2) Inhale com¬ 
plete breath. (3) Swing arms around in a circle, backward, a few times. 


66 


Then reverse a few times retaining the breath all the while. You may 
vary this by rotating them alternately like the sails of a wind-mill. (4) 
Exhale the breath vigorously through the mouth. (5) Practise cleansing 
breath. 


Exercise IV. 

(1) Lie on the floor with your face downward, and palms of hands 
flat upon the floor by your sides. (2) Inhale complete breath and retain. 

(3) Stiffen the body and raise yourself up by the strength of your arms 
until you rest on your hands and toes. (4) Then lower yourself to ori¬ 
ginal position. Repeat several times. (5) Exhale vigorously through 
the mouth. (6) Practise cleansing breath. 

Exercise V. 

(1) Stand erect with your palms against the wall. (2) Inhale com¬ 
plete breath and retain. (3) Lower the chest to the wall, resting your 
weight on your hands. (4) Then raise yourself back with the arm muscles 
alone, keeping the body stiff. (5) Exhale vigorously through the mouth. 

(6) Practise cleansing breath. 

Exercise VI. 

(1) Stand erect with arms “akimbo” that is with hands resting 
around the waist and elbows standing out. (2) Inhale complete breath 
and retain. (3) Keep legs and hips stiff and bend well forward, as if 
bowing, at the same time exhaling slowly. (4) Return to first position 
and then take another complete breath. (5) Then bend backward ex¬ 
haling slowly. (6) Return to first position and take a complete breath. 

(7) Then bend sideways exhaling slowly (vary by bending to right and 
then to left). (8) Practise cleansing breath. 

Exercise VII. 

(1) Stand erect or sit erect with straight spinal column. 

(2) Inhale a complete breath but instead of inhaling on a continuous 
steady stream, take a series of short, quick “sniffs” as if you were smell¬ 
ing aromatic salts and ammonia and did not wish to get too strong a 
“whiff.” Do not exhale any of these little breaths, but add one to the 
other until the entire lung space is filled. (3) Retain for a few seconds. 

(4) Exhale through the nostrils in a long restful breath. (5) Practise 
cleansing breath. 

WHEN YOU ARE IN TRAINING. 

Do not attempt to take all the above exercises at one and the same 
time. Take them several times in the day. Never exercise immediately 


67 


after a meal or before it. Do not try to force development as you will 
be apt to suffer from re-action. Slow and steady wins the race. Gentle 
and persistent exercises are advisable. That will lead to permanent 
development. 

EFFECT OF MIND AND BODY. 

It has been proved conclusively even on the physical plane that a 
“a Man thinketh in his heart so is he.” The great thing to avoid is Fear 
and Worry thoughts. These and all other undesirable thoughts are due 
to bad health partially but it is even a greater truth that physical degen¬ 
eration is due to bad thinking. Fear affects the heart. During epidemics 
such as plague, cholera, etc., you generally first project the deadly germs 
of Fear-Thoughts upon yourself and thus by weakening your mind you 
weaken your body and expose yourself to disease influence. Again, if 
you have some hereditary disease and if you accept adverse suggestions 
from ignorant people and keep telling yourself that such and such a 
disease has taken shelter in you and your body as its “fixed abode” you 
simply hasten your own end. The body and mind are interrelated. 
Thoughts materialize themselves in your body. You should get as far 
away from the idea of disease and old age and weaknesses as possible 
and hold the health-thoughts steadily before your mind. The only way 
in which to be quite immune from Disease is to Deny the Power of 
Disease on yourself. Say “I cannot be ill,” “I will not admit disease.” 
Health and strength are in the unyielding will. De-hypnotise yourself of 
that superstition that God sends disease. Your body is yours to control 
and keep healthy. God will give you—(He has already given you rather) 
—the Power to control your body. Remember always; you alone can 
save yourself. All Power and Wisdom are potentially resident in you. 
Have confidence and set that thing in motion, exercise it constantly and 
persistently and it shall grow and unfold. God is in you and you are in 
God. When you pray you are simply, although often unconsciously, 
helping that Latent Power to uncoil itself. Remember again: God will 
grant you the opportunity, the means, the wisdom, the ability to accom¬ 
plish a thing, but You Shall Have to do the work yourself. Hence, you 
see, the illumined mind is quite necessary for perfect health. Get rid of 
all weak thoughts. Have a strong mind. Remember lastly: 

MIND ACTS UPON BODY IN ALL WAYS. 

Make your mind positive to your body. I have told you how to do 
so. Physical exercise plus Mental Exercise will put you on the road to 
Power and Poise. And side by side with this follow health-laws. But 
bear in mind that if you assert your power on your mind and body con- 


68 


fidentially, they cannot but obey your commands. The body has an in¬ 
telligence of its own. This intelligence knows its work perfectly. It is 
what you call Instinct. It digests your meals; assimilates and elimi¬ 
nates; repairs wastes; works the heart and controls the circulation; heals 
wounds and presides over all other natural and involuntary processes in 
the body. This Instinctive mind knows its work perfectly. But, mark 
you, this intelligence in the cells and nerve-centres of your body is nega¬ 
tive to the Central Intelligence in the brain—the controlling centre—the 
“I Am” and is affected by suggestions, beliefs and thoughts in your brain. 
All you have got to do is to avoid projecting negative thoughts from your 
mind and let it alone. But suppose you have by violation of the Laws of 
Nature disturbed the action of the Instinctive Mind, disease results. Dis¬ 
ease is simply the effect of nature to throw off unnatural conditions and 
re-assert natural conditions. In such a case all you have got to do is to 
re-establish natural states. You can do so by simply increasing the gen¬ 
eral vitality of the body and by changing your Mental Attitude. For 
instance, if you somehow or other have accepted the “belief” that your 
stomach is weak or your heart is weak or your liver is slow or your cir¬ 
culation is bad or your vitality is low, etc., your instinctive Mind will 
take up your Beliefs and work them out in no time physically. The In¬ 
stinctive Mind—which is the same as the sub-conscious Mind working in 
the body —never reasons. It is on the plane of Automatism. Therefore, 
if you have done any such negative thinking your first step is to wipe out 
these noxious mental weeds by the Positive Denial. Say “No, No, No, 
my body is strong; my stomach is strong, my heart is strong, etc.” In 
this form of suggestion you use positive Denial as well as Positive Affir¬ 
mation. The former is destructive of evil if rightly applied, the latter is 
constructive of good. Belief and confident expectation are mighty forces. 
Be sure you apply them wisely. The power of mind over matter is 
supreme and a Proven Reality. 

RESERVE FORCE. 

Here I should like to draw your attention to the Reserve Power ex¬ 
isting in your body. Of course there are soul-powers existing potentially 
within YOU which leap into brilliant expression as you succeed in devel¬ 
oping and expanding your brain to a state of perfect responsiveness to 
the touch of your will. For really and truly your will, forming as it does 
the divine part of yourself, is always strong and must unfold “as a rose” 
by exercising itself, in the field of matter, force and mind;—all of which 
are subordinate to YOU and the real aim of human evolution is actually 
to place in your hands the wand of power. 


69 


What is within your body is sure to find its correspondent outside in 
Nature. Control nature inside and you will move as a master out in this 
universe. 

Now without going into details let me tell you—if you do not know 
it already—that mind is the finest form of matter, and matter the grossest 
form of mind, and there is a constant interaction between the two poles. 
But since mind represents the positive end and matter the negative, the 
former can dominate the latter. You can evoke states of consciousness by 
applying stimulus to the periphery and again mental states evoke corres¬ 
ponding vibrations in the cellular life of body and brain. 

Hence you see your mind controls and forms your body. Also your 
body reacts upon your brain and affects that part of your mind which has 
to operate through the brain, which is matter pure and simple. So to keep 
aright the polarities of your brain and body a constant adjustment of 
forces is needed and thus you can establish POISE. 

In order always to be in a state of perfect health two things are 
necessary. Deny the power of disease over yourself. In the unyielding 
will is health. In the weak, vacillating, fearful mind is disease and death. 
At the same time always be in perfect magnetic trim with the physical 
laws of health. A knowledge of the latter and the ascension of a fearless 
mental attitude will open up hitherto unrecognised channels of physical 
and mental expression. Physiological researches have led sincere inves¬ 
tigators to the inevitable conclusion that there is subtle, refined, dy¬ 
namic substance, a reality that binds up the reorganization, causes 
growth, vitality and motion; repairs injuries; makes up losses; overcomes 
and cures diseases. Von Helment called it “Archeus;” Stahl called it 
Anima;” Whytt called it the “sentiment principle;” Dr. Cullen called it 
“Caloric;” Dr. Darwin called it “Sensorial energy”; Rush called it “Oc¬ 
cult cause;” and many other names such as “Vital Principle,” “Living 
power,” “Conservative Power,” “Odic Force,” etc., etc., have been given 
to it. We of India have recognised it and devised Yoga methods for 
controlling it; we call it Prana and only in India do you come across men 
who possess pranic control or control over universal energy. 

There exists in your physical organism reserve stores of vital en¬ 
ergy stored away for your use, particularly in that central ganglion of 
your vital battery known as the Solar Plexus and generally in the chain 
of ganglia or storage batteries along and up your spine and elsewhere in 
other nerve-centres. The solar plexus is also known as the Abdominal 
Brain and your brain depends and draws upon this vital centre for its 
energies. You will find after the prolonged concentration and brain- 
work that this part of your body—at the back of pit of stomach—becomes 
warm. Now when you engage in physical exercise, for instance, you 


70 


must have noticed how at first you soon get tired and all done up. But 
if you wait a little and then start again, you will find how the sense of 
fatigue has quite passed away and you can run your body under full 
pressure for a very long time, and the more you exert yourself the greater 
and more powerful the surging up of your vital energy. With each new 
exertion you seem to acquire a fresh start. This has puzzled physiolo¬ 
gists. You will find a parallel phenomenon in mental work. You may 
experience a sense of weariness and fatigue in some brain-work which 
demands close thinking and attention, but if you attack your work a 
little later after the first effort you will do your work a surprising degree 
of freshness, vigour, and enthusiasm far surpassing the original attempt. 
Again everyone can and does put forth universal energy under pressure 
of some urgent necessity, which will startle even himself. No matter 
who you are and what your physical condition, there is an enormous 
amount of power in your body that has never been drawn upon at all 
and impatiently waiting for up-call. We go on in ordinary dog trot pace, 
resting, limping, “taking care of our health/’ and then we think we are 
doing our best. Do not permit your mind to be self-hypnotised into a 
false sense of being “exhausted” and “old.” Neither of them is a fact 
except in your thought of yourself. All your powers are lying dormant. 
All your latent energies are lying unused. Back of your conscious men¬ 
tality are tremendous energies awaiting the pull of your will. When your 
brain conceives of being something unusually great, at least so it may 
appear from your view-point, do not question your strength but go 
ahead unhesitatingly, fearlessly and steadily. Assert your life-force. 
Feel that you are young, strong and healthy and fit. Live in mental con¬ 
sciousness of power and never think of weakness. Keep your grip and 
run right along. Nature is sure to honor your draft. Nature is sure to 
give you strength, energy and vim, in boundless measure. Just try this 
my friends, you, who write me of “there being a serious lack of vitality” 
in your system and hence your inability to grapple with the occult. No 
such thing. Fact is you lack courage and initiative, pluck and “go” and 
you are labouring under the hypnotism of weakening thoughts. Just 
change your thoughts, and your reserve forces will rush out into activity 
and you will be a changed man in no time. 

HOW TO EXERCISE. 

In exercising aim at rhythm of motion. Let your movements be 
easy, regular, rhythmic and graceful. Take an interest in your work. 
Do pay attention. Put Will-Power and Mind into your work. Think of 
all it means. Do not fatigue yourself unduly. After exercise towelling 
or a spray-bath is advisable. Wet your towel, pass it over your body, 


71 


rubbing thoroughly. Raise the towel and repeat. After exercise and 
towelling, you should be in a splendid glow. Be sure to keep the win¬ 
dows open when exercising. Fresh air is an absolute necessity. Never 
mind about cold and so forth. Remember the Positive Denial will fill 
you with Power of Resistance. Say “Cold cannot affect my body” and 
believe what you say. You can face anything in this way and remain 
untouched. 


BATHING AND LINEN. 

1 he student should bathe daily, using plenty of water, rubbing and 
cleaning the body from top to toe. I myself bathe very early in the 
morning, in all seasons, in cold water. Cold water stimulates circulation 
and is a wonderful tonic internally and externally. Warm water is sooth¬ 
ing and relaxing in its effect. If you can bathe in the flowing water of 
a river, so much the better. Swimming is a wonderful bracer, besides 
being an ejoyment in itself. There is Prana in water and your body ex¬ 
tracts this Prana from air, water and food. I cannot give you instruc¬ 
tions as to different forms of bathing, as this is not a “doctor” book. As 
far as possible bathe twice a day, mornings and evenings; if not, once 
in the morning, using the towel at other times. Bathing is not merely 
pouring water on body but cleansing it out and out with water rubbing 
and scrubbing with hands and towels. Aim at perfect cleanliness. Clean¬ 
liness is Godliness and Health is Holiness. 

Then again while bathing if you let the water flow over your body 
and try to “appreciate the sensation” and dwell on the idea of Prana- 
absorption from water, you shall get double benefit. 

About linen —Be neat , for God’s sake. I have seen orthodox people 
who bathe twice and wash their hands hundreds of times in the day, but 
whose clothes are sticky with dirt, sweat and oil. Whatever else it may 
mean, Religion does not mean squalor, offensive odours in body and 
clothes and general neglect of external clean linen and dirt. The Yogi 
is a man of supreme REFINEMENT. Read that word and understand 
all it means. The clothes you wear in day-time should not be worn at 
night. Be clean internally as well externally. Be clean. Be clean, Be 
clean, within as well as without. 

DRINKING WATER AND SWALLOWING AIR. 

Your body needs a reasonable supply of water and air. Water is 
used by nature in different ways. Form the habit of drinking pure water 
from 5 to 8 tumblers a day. Drink slowly and form a mental image of 
Prana-absorption from the water. 


72 


The student needs fresh air too in plenty. If your heart and lungs 
are in sound condition they will draw in air naturally and extract oxygen 
in proper quantities. If not, perform the following exercises carefulty 
one by one in the open air every day. They are quite reliable. 

THE YOGI CLEANSING BREATH. 

(1) Inhale a complete breath. (2) Retain the air a few seconds. 
(3) Pucker up the lips as if for a whistle (but do not swell out the cheeks) 
then exhale a little air through the opening with considerable vigor. Then 
stop for a moment retaining the air and then exhale a little more air. 
Repeat until the air is completely exhaled. Remember that considerable 
vigor is to be used in exhaling air through the opening in the lips. This 
breath will be found quite refreshing when one is tired and generally 
“used up.” A trial will convince the student of its merits. This exercise 
should be practised until it can be performed naturally and easily, as it 
is used to finish up a number of other exercises given in this book and it 
should be thoroughly understood. 

NERVE VITALISING BREATH. 

(1) Stand erect. (2) Inhale a complete breath and retain same. 
(3) Extend the arms straight in front of you, letting them somewhat 
limp and relaxed, with only sufficient nerve force to hold them out. (4) 
Slowly draw the hands back towards the shoulders gradually, contracting 
the muscles and putting force into them, so that when they reach the 
shoulders the fists will be so tightly clenched that a tremulous motion is 
felt. (5) Then keeping the muscles tense push the fists slowly out and 
then draw them back rapidly (still tense) several times. (6) Exhale 
vigorously through the mouth. (7) Practise the cleansing breath. (8) 
The efficiency of this exercise depends greatly upon the speed of the 
drawing back of the fists, and the tension of the muscles, and, of course 
upon the full lungs. This exercise must be tried to be appreciated. It 
is without equal as a “bracer” as our western friends put it. 

THE VOCAL BREATH. 

(1) Inhale a complete breath very slowly, but steadily, through the 
nostrils, taking as much time as possible in the inhalation. (2) Retain 
for a few seconds. (3) Expel the air vigorously in one great breath, 
through the wide-opened mouth. (4) Rest the lungs by the cleansing 
breath. This would give you a good, rolling voice. 


73 


THE RETAINED BREATH. 

(1) Stand erect. (2) Inhale a complete breath. (3) Retain the 
breath as long as you can comfortably. (4) Exhale vigorously through’ 
the open mouth. (5) Practise the cleansing breath. At first you will 
be able to retain the breath only a short time, but a little practise will 
also show a great improvement. Time yourself with a watch, if you wish 
to note your progress. 


CELL STIMULATION. 

(1) Stand erect with hands in sides. (2) Breathe in very slowly 
and gradually. (3) While inhaling, gently tap the chest with the finger¬ 
tips, constantly changing position. (4) When the lungs are filled, retain 
the breath and the chest with the palms of the hands. (5) Practise the 
cleansing breath. 


RIB STRETCHING. 

(1) Stand erect. (2) Place the hands one on each side of the body 
as high up in the armpits as convenient, the thumbs reaching towards 
the back, the palms on the side of the chest and the fingers to the front 
over the breast. (3) Inhale a complete breath. (4) Retain the air for 
a short time. (5) Then gently squeeze the sides at the same time slowly 
exhaling. (6) Practise the cleansing breath. 

CHEST EXPANSION 

(1) Stand erect. (2) Inhale a complete breath. (3) Retain the 
air. (4) Extend both arms forward and bring the two clenched fists to¬ 
gether on a level with the shoulder. (5) Then swing back the fists vigor¬ 
ously until the arms stand out straight side-ways from the shoulders. (6) 
Then bring back to position (4) and swing to position (5). Repeat sev¬ 
eral times. (7) Exhale vigorously through the open mouth. (8) Prac¬ 
tise the cleansing breath. 

WALKING EXERCISE. 

(1) Walk with head up, chin drawn slightly in, shoulders back, and 
with measured tread. (2) Inhale a complete breath, counting (mentally) 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, one count to each step making the inhalation extend 
over the eight counts. (3) Exhale slowly through the nostrils, counting 
as before 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, one count to a step. (4) Rest between 
breaths, continuing, walking and counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, one count 
to a step. (5) Repeat until you begin to feel tired. Then rest for a while 
and resume at pleasure. Repeat several times a day. You may vary the 


74 


exercise by retaining the breath during a 1, 2, 3, 4, count and then ex¬ 
hale in an eight-step count. Practise whichever plan seems most agree- 
able to you. 


MORNING EXERCISE. 

(1) Stand erect in a military attitude, head up, eyes front, shoulders 
back, knees stiff, hands at sides. (2) Raise body slowly on toes, inhaling 
a complete breath, steadily and slowly. (3) Retain the breath for a few 
seconds, maintaining the same position. (4) Slowly sink the first position 
at the same time slowly exhaling the air through the nostrils. (5) Prac¬ 
tise cleansing breath. (6) Repeat several times, varying by using right 
leg alone, then left leg alone. 

STIMULATING CIRCULATION. 

(1) Stand erect. (2) Inhale a complete breath and retain. (3) 
Bend forward slightly and grasp a stick or cane steadily and firmly, and 
gradually exerting your entire strength upon the grasp. (4) Relax the 
grasp, return to first position, and slowly exhale. (5) Repeat several 
times. (6) Finish with the cleansing breath. (N. B.— The above are 
from the Yoga Teachings.) 

MEDITATION EXERCISE No. 1. 

Retire into the silence. Say: I AM FEARLESS. Concentrate 
calmly on that idea. Think it out in all its bearings. See yourself in 
your mind’s eye as possessing the desired quality and acting it out in 
actual life. Let your mind indulge in a good, strongly-dramatized day¬ 
dream. Only insist upon its sticking to the particular text of thought 
and always showing you successful at the end. Finish up with a vigor¬ 
ous affirmation of the “I am.” Practise at the same hour daily for 6 
months at least. 


Exercise No. II. 

Retire into the silence. Concentrate earnestly thus: I send out 
strong , positive, healing thought-waves of love to all mankind. Let the 
disease-ridden become healthy. Let the weak become strong. Let the x 
needy ones become prosperous and happy. Let the fearful ones become 
filled with courage. Let the cruel become kind and merciful. Let the 
hateful and hating ones become loving. Let the impure ones become 
pure. Let the bereaved , deserted, sorrow-stricken ones become soothed 
and comforted. 


75 


Picture to yourself strong waves of Thought-Force passing out of 
you and encircling the whole world. Picture the world as peopled with 
men and women manifesting the desired conditions. 

The more friends sit together in union of will and soul concentrating 
as above-indicated the better. Practise alone if you can find no earnest 
and serious-minded ones to join you. 

Believe in your power to so help humanity. The power of thought 
is unlimited. In blessing others bless yourself. The effect of this exer¬ 
cise will be far-reaching. It shall follow and be a blessing to you even 
after death. Practise regularly at the same place and time as far as 
possible. 

Be earnest in your work. 

Do not talk of your exercises to others. 

The above exercises will wonderfully develop and strengthen anyone 
who tries them. The deep breathing exercise already given is known as 
Pranayama or Controlling the Psychic Breath. Its main purpose is to 
give you control over your Prana and unfold the Psychic Force latent in 
you. Practised on an impure body and weak lungs it may do harm. 
Hence students are advised to undergo the above 10 breathing exercises 
first and then, when their lungs have developed the power of endurance, 
they should take that up. It will take time, patience, and serious work. 
But if the student is sufficiently energetic he will perfect all these exer¬ 
cises in six months. But follow nature’s plan and be slow and steady. 

DIET. 

You all know that pure food brings pure blood. You should avoid 
the two extremes of gluttony and daily fasting and abstemiousness. You 
should know (1) What to eat (2) How to eat (3) When to eat. 

Concentrated food such as contains the maximum amount of nour¬ 
ishment in a minimum quantity should be used. The student should 
study some reliable hand book on the relative values of food and use his 
judgment. We ourselves use nuts, milk, fruits, whole wheat bread, rice 
in very small quantity, pulse, etc. Those who are non-meat eaters—and 
we advise it strongly—will do well to see to it that their menu has a good 
supply of albuminous food, as vegetarians often run the risk of being 
overfed as to starch and underfed in nitrogenous foods. 

(2) Chew and masticate properly so as to extract the food-Prana 
in full and break up the food-substance into very small bits, reducing it 
to pulp. Do not be in a hurry to bolt your food but let it linger in your 
mouth so as to be properly insalivated and so that the nerves of the 
tongue, cheek, etc., may all absorb energy from food. Remember your 
stomach is not lined with rows of teeth. This will give you double the 


76 


nourishment you get ordinarily, avoid constipation, prevent malnutrition, 
non-assimilation and over-eating. Out of a very small quantity of food 
you can extract perfect nourishment and thus you avoid loading and 
“stuffing” the stomach with unnecessary food. It is also economical in 
case you are a thrifty soul! Eat to live. Don’t live to eat. 

(3) Eat when you are hungry. That cultivated “appetite” that 
craves for satisfaction at certain stated intervals of the day and brings 
on an “all-gone” fainting, nauseating sensation in the stomach is not real 
“hunger.” In real hunger there is absolutely no sensation in the stomach 
but there is a rich and continuous flow of saliva in the mouth and that 
sort of thing makes you enjoy the plainest of fares. Even a dry crust 
of bread will taste sweet as Manna. Cut off your breakfasts. Drink 
cold water instead. Eat one good, nourishing meal at 12 a. m., and one 
light meal in the evening. 

Lastly, students, let plain living and high thinking be your motto. 
Do not be afraid to eat when you are hungry and so long as you exercise 
and work with brain and body even two square means a day are permis¬ 
sible. Do not grow ethereal and airy, because then you will not amount 
to much in the world’s work. Students, who are perfect Brahmacharies, 
will not care half as much for lots of food as ordinary folk do. A con¬ 
stant feeling of satisfaction and fullness is present in such. But hard 
workers must never present in such. But hard workers must never be 
under-nourished and they require more food than others. 

SLEEP. 

It is the depth and relaxation in sleep that counts. High-strung 
people find it hard to relax and keep tossing on their pillows. Bathe your 
feet in cold water in hot season and in cool water in cold season. That 
will draw off the surplus blood gurgitating in your brain. Also bathe the 
nape of the neck. The student should engage in meditation before falling 
to sleep, as during sleep the Man leaves the physical form and goes to 
super-physical planes and it is the last train of thought in your mind that 
determines and conforms you to the special super-physical influence you 
are to obtain. The physical benefits too shall be great. You will feel 
more rested in this way and your sleep will be sleeping a sounder and 
more refreshing sleep than otherwise. One of the chief signs of success 
in Mental and Physical Control is that your sleeps are undisturbed and 
peaceful. 

During sleep you are in a passive, relaxed condition and all sorts 
of unseen influences play around you. It is good therefore to enclose 
yourself in an Astral Shell. Concentrate upon your aura and picture it 


77 


as extending some 18 inches all around you and forming a shell around 
you. Now take this affirmation to concentrate your mind. 

1. Iam charging my aura with my Will-Force. 

2. It is strong, strong, strong and can and will resist, repel and 
drive off all bad influences and admit only pure and holy influence. 

3. It will remain around me right along the period of my sleep. 

The student is advised to surround himself in this “auric Shell” 

even when awake so that it may beat off all malign and harmful thought- 
forces. As he grows in Will-Power and Self-Confidence, a Protective 
Aura will form around him naturally and will be felt by others. 

RELAXATION VERSUS CONTRACTION. 

The student should learn to relax his body completely so that it 
shall lie still and limp and soft as cotton. He should be able to tense 
and contract his muscles so that they will become hard as iron. In all 
the physical exercises you will find two special actions (1) Muscle con¬ 
traction (2) Stretching. When you contract muscle and harden it, you 
have sent currents of nerve-force and will to that part; when you relax 
it, you “let go” completely. What we want is Strength in Repose ready 
to leap into action in the flash of an eye. We have taught you how to 
relax in Lesson 2 on Will-Force. You all have noticed a cat crouching 
for its prey. How intensely still it is; yet you know what such stillness 
means. It is very far from laziness. Relaxation husbands and conserves 
nerve-force. It is a great thing to be calf' and silent. Calmness is the 
centralization of tremendous power. Practise being calm, as far as 
you can. 


SOLAR ENERGY. 

There is great electrical and thermal power in the sun’s rays. If 
the human body be properly exposed to the sun during the first five hours 
in the morning and the evening, the body would absorb energy therefrom 
and gain in strength. Do not over do this, especially you of the warm 
climate. 


LAST WORD ON HEALTH. 

Trust Nature. It is her office to keep your body-machine running 
in perfect order. “Prevention is better than cure“—they say. Observe 
the healthy man. See how he lives and follow his example. But note 
that body is yours to control and God will not do that work for you. 
Also get rid of the stupidity that God sends diseases. Think, study and 
observe and you will know what Health Laws are. 


78 


CONCLUSION. 


Student, I have indicated the lines along which you are to seek the 
way to Spiritual Independence. I cannot run your life-affairs, solve your 
life-problems, do your work for you. I have pointed out a few principles, 
observe, think and complete your knowledge. You must climb the steps 
of the ladder of attainment and Self-Perfection yourself. 


Fear is a great stumbling-block in the way. Fight it down. Starve 
it out. Be earnest. Be thorough. Live your life silently and earnestly. 
Give others a helping hand whenever you can without that patronising 
air of superiority so characteristic of the modern snobs passing for “gen¬ 
tlemen.” Be proud that you are an “Indian.” Follow Indian ideals of 
greatness. Consider it a privilege to help deserving souls. We all need 
help, encouragement and guidance to some extent. Co-operation, inter¬ 
dependence are the basic foundations of human well-being. Be strong. 
Be manly. Be courageous. Be great and good. Take your place in 
the world’s evolutionary progress and lend your hand in turning the wheel 
of life. In the same measure that you help others, shall you yourself be 
helped on all planes of life. Be reasonable. Be just and fair unto others. 
Be a source of blessing unto others. So long as you labour under the 
vitiating influence of negative thoughts, you cannot achieve much in any 
direction. I have told you “how” you are to proceed. 


May God bless you. 
have failed. 


May he guide, help and strengthen where I 
SWAMI MUKERJI. 


a 


79 


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